Word: mariel
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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After braving the 110-mile boat journey from Mariel in Castro's Cuba, the refugees arrived at Key West, Fla., with visions of freedom and a better life. But they were herded onto planes and flown to one of four refugee camps, where they began the dreary game of waiting as center officials slowly processed them. Of the 7,500 refugees now living at Eglin, 5,000 have been there since the center opened on May 3. Arkansas' Fort Chaffee remains filled with 18,800, Indiantown Gap Military Reservation, Pa., holds 15,000, and the just opened Camp...
...month tide of refugees is hardly abating. Last week 18,000 arrived, and there are still some 500 American boats at the Cuban port of Mariel, held there by the Cuban authorities until they decide who should be piled aboard. The overcrowded craft are often ordered to depart at night now, making the 110-mile journey even more dangerous. The estimated death toll of refugees so far: at least 25. "Mother Nature has been kind to these people," said one Coast Guard officer. "Only good weather has prevented a real disaster...
...flotilla of ships heading for Mariel has nearly disappeared, however, thanks to President Carter's order two weeks ago setting up a 200-mile Coast Guard and naval blockade of the Florida Straits. U.S. Customs is seizing any vessel that brings back refugees...
More than 70,000 Cuban refugees have so far landed on U.S. soil, with thousands more still expected to arrive on the boats now at Mariel. Authorities opened a new refugee processing center last week at the military reservation in Indiantown Gap, Pa., to handle the spillover from Florida's Eglin Air Force Base and Arkansas' Fort Chaffee. By week's end the new camp held a capacity crowd of 20,000 and a fourth center, Camp McCoy near Sparta, Wis., opened its gates...
Under Carter's order, relayed via radio to the boat skippers in Mariel, the American boats were supposed to return to Key West without bringing any passengers. But returning pilots told harrowing tales of being forced by Cuban soldiers to take on refugees selected by Castro's government-often leaving behind relatives of the Cuban Americans who had paid for the trip. The captains were in a quandary. Some said that the people who had chartered their boats threatened their lives if they tried to leave empty. At the same time, the Cuban government threatened to levy...