Mariel Cubans

Historical Background

From April 4 through September 26, 1980, about 1% of the Cuban population (i.e., 146,965 men, women, and children) migrated throughout Latin America and Europe via the port of Mariel, Cuba. Of the 146,965 “new” Cuban migrants, an estimated 120,000 to 125,000 arrived in the United States courtesy of the Freedom Flotilla, a volunteer group of exiled or expatriate Cuban men and women who employed their own private vessels in making the roundtrip voyage from Key West, Florida, to Mariel Harbor, Cuba. This heterogeneous group of Cuban migrants came to be known as “Marielitos.” The epicenter for this monumental migration was south Florida; in particular, Key West, where today a small monument commemorates this entry point for thousands of Marielitos and the coordinated efforts among the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Services (INS), the U.S. Coast Guard (USCG), and the U.S. Navy in ensuring the safe passage, processing, and documentation of thousands of men, women, and children. The south Florida Cuban exile community or el excilio and members of the Freedom Flotilla have also erected their own commemoratives to honor those who did not survive the journey. For Marielitos, Key West was Ellis Island.

Although initial resettlement in the United States for Mariel Cubans included major urban cities throughout the country, a larger percentage—estimates range from 35% to 45%— settled in Miami-Dade County, Florida. The massive Mariel exodus arose from specific economical, political, and social forces burgeoning from the island as a result of the Cuban Missile Crisis aftermath. Moreover, these same migratory preconditions in Cuba also distinctively defined Marielitos in terms of their political ideology, social views, and labor market participation. Specifically, this generation of Cubans represented a third wave of émigrés unlike the first two in terms of age, social class, race, and racial and social identity. Mariel Cubans were primarily male, younger, working class, and a greater percentage than in the earlier waves was non-White. In terms of political ideology and social views, Marielitos were postrevolutionaries in that they came of age under a socialist/authoritarian government and had firsthand experience with the hard realities such a regime entails.

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