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Florida and the Mariel Boatlift of 1980
Winner of the Florida Historical Society's 2015 Stetson
Kennedy Award The 1980 Mariel Boatlift was a
profound episode in twentieth-century American history, impacting
not just Florida, but the entire country. During the first twenty
days of the boatlift, with little support from the federal
government, the state of Florida coordinated and responded to the
sudden arrival in Key West of more than thirty thousand Cuban
refugees, the first wave of immigrants who became known as
“Marielitos.” Kathleen Dupes Hawk, Ron Villella,
Adolfo Leyva de Varona, and Kristen Cifers combine the insights
of expert observers with the experiences of actual participants.
The authors organize and present a wealth of primary sources,
first-hand accounts, archival research, government records, and
interviews with policy-makers, volunteers, and refugees that
bring into focus the many far-reaching human, political, and
cultural outcomes of the Mariel Boatlift that continue to
influence Florida, the United States, and Cuba today. Emerging
from these key records and accounts is a grand narrative of high
human drama. Castro’s haphazard and temporary opening of
Cuba spurred many thousands of Cubans to depart in calamitously
rushed, unprepared, and dangerous conditions. The book tells the
stories of these Cuban citizens, most legitimately seeking
political asylum but also including subversive agents, convicted
criminals, and the mentally ill, who began arriving in the US
beginning in April 1980. It also recounts how local and state
agencies and private volunteers with few directives or resources
were left to improvise ways to provide the Marielitos food,
shelter, and security as well as transportation away from Key
West. The book provides a definitive account of the political,
legal, and administrative twists on the local, state, and federal
levels in response to the crisis as well as of the
often-dysfunctional attempts at collaboration between
governmental and private institutions. Vivid and readable,
Florida and the Mariel Boatlift of 1980 presents the
significant details that illuminate and humanize this complex
humanitarian, political, and logistical crisis.
eBook