Word: mariel
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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...cavernous airplane hangar in Miami's Tamiami Park had a symbolic significance. In the spring of 1980, the structure served as one of the first receiving centers for the tattered cargo of the "freedom flotilla," the 125,000 Marielito refugees named after the Cuban port of Mariel from which they fled to the U.S. Last month the immigrants organized a daylong festival to thank Miami for its support and to display the talents of the boatlift's artists. Said Choreographer and Dancer Pedro Pablo Peña, who washed up on the shores of Key West...
...concern with image is understandable. Three years after the Mariel boatlift hit South Florida, the struggling refugees have a reputation that is decidedly mixed. The majority of Marielitos are hard-working and peaceful; some are former political prisoners and professionals. But an estimated 10,000 to 15,000 Marielitos are violent criminals and former mental patients, forced by President Fidel Castro to leave the country. "Two groups were on the boatlift: those who came and those who were sent," explains Miami-based Painter Victor Gomez, who says he arranged to be falsely classified as a delinquent to join the exodus...
...greatest frustration Marielitos face is separation from loved ones, whether in Cuba or a third country. The newcomers' current state of legal limbo has added to their sense of disorientation. "Mariel was chaos," says a Miami city official. "Many husbands, wives and children were separated. The tragedy is that they cannot be reunited." If the Simpson-Mazzoli bill now pending in Congress passes, that will change. The bill would permit Marielitos, as permanent resident aliens, to bring their families to the U.S. after a three-year waiting period...
...Playing a Southern belle was not a dream of mine at all," says Mariel Hemingway, 21. "But then the more I thought of it, the more I thought, 'Why not?' " Hemingway had gone from playing the trim, muscular pentathlete in Personal Best to portraying the voluptuous playmate and murder victim in the soon-to-be-released Star 80, with nude scenes in each. So a mere adjustment in her accent would seem a snap for her first stage role, in The Palace of Amateurs, which opens in two weeks in Dallas. At first, though, the Idaho-born actress...
...warnings may fall on deaf ears, regardless. Most of the eight recent hijackings were carried out by homesick refugees, part of the wave of 125,000 Cuban exiles who washed up on South Florida's shores during the 1980 Mariel boatlift. Disillusioned with their new life in the U.S., they discount talk of prison terms as American propaganda. At present, Havana refuses to do the one thing State Department officials believe would deter potential sky bandits: extradite them back to the U.S. for prosecution. Cuba has done so only once, in 1980, and the two returned hijackers were sentenced...