MARIEL BOATLIFT

The Cuban economy took a nosedive in the 1970s.  Housing shortages and joblessness fueled popular dissent, yet Fidel Castro’s harsh restrictions on emigration appeared to condemn Cubans to a life of struggle.  Faced with possible civil unrest in the late 1970s, Castro loosened his grip.  In January 1979 he released several political prisoners and allowed Cuban exiles in foreign lands to visit relatives in Cuba.  Then in April 1980, Castro declared the port of Mariel 25 miles west of Havana to be “open.”

Overnight, hundreds of local watercraft, many unseaworthy, began shipping aboard refugees.  Hundreds more boats departed Miami bound for Mariel as a boatlift of those fleeing Communist Cuba developed.  US Coast Guard District 7 was quickly overwhelmed as scores of overloaded and questionably sound boats ran out of fuel or broke down in the seas between the island and Florida.  President Jimmy Carter called up 900 Coast Guard Reservists, but even these, coupled with re-deployed Guardsmen from other Atlantic areas, could not keep up with the struggles at sea.  Typical was the ocean-going tug Dr. Daniels, intercepted on this day by USCG CAPE GULL (WPB-95304).  She had been chartered by Cuban-Americans to transport relatives, but at Mariel, Cuban authorities ordered her (over)loaded with 447 of those immediately available.  Dr. Daniels had lifesaving equipment for about 150.

The US Navy responded as well on 5 May.  USS SAIPAN (LHA-2) and BOULDER (LST-1190), augmented by P-3 Orion patrol aircraft from NAS Jacksonville, joined the rescue now dubbed Operation “Freedom Flotilla.”  When civilian aircraft interfered with operation, the FAA declared a flight restriction over southern Florida, with F-4 Phantoms from VMFA-312 at MCAS Beaufort flying enforcement.  The 1^st Battalion, 8^th Marines, 2^nd MarDiv went ashore at Key West to help process the refugees.  The Orange Bowl stadium and decommissioned Cold War missile defense sites were converted to hold refugees.

Among the 125,000 Cubans and detained Canadians who reached Florida were Pulitzer Prize winning writer Mirta Ojito, opera singer Elizabeth Caballero and TV actor Rene Lavan.  Then Castro, seeing an opportunity, began emptying Havana’s jails and mental hospitals.  This now ramped up a requirement for intensified screening–complicating an already chaotic scene.  An estimated 1000+ violent criminals entered Florida, including arsonist and mass-murder Julio Gonzalez and convicted murderer and gang leader Luis Felipe.  The exodus lasted until Castro re-closed Mariel that autumn.  In a testament to American seapower, only 27 refugees died at sea from the more than 1700 boats of the Mariel Boatlift.

Watch for more “Today in Naval History”  9 MAY 25

CAPT James Bloom, Ret.

Lazelere, Alex.  The 1980 Cuban Boatlift.  Washington, DC: National Defense Univ. Press, 1988.

“Mariel Boatlift”  Global Security website.  AT: http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/ops/mariel-boatlift.htm, retrieved 16 October 2015.

“Mariel Boatlift.” US Nook Website.  AT: http://usnook.com/ english/politics/history/diplomacy/2013/0924/61491.html, retrieved 16 October 2015.

“Mariel Boatlift, 1980.”  USCG History Center.  AT: http:// www.uscg.mil/history/articles/uscg_mariel_history_1980.asp, retrieved 16 October 2015.

ADDITIONAL NOTES:  This was one in a series of humanitarian operations in the Caribbean and Central America in the latter 20^th century in which the Navy and Marine Corps participated.  VMFA-312 and the 8^th Marines received the Humanitarian Service Medal for their actions in this operation.

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