Word: marielito
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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...many in the milling crowd of 5,000, the 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...
Miami has by far the largest Marielito population. But many of the boat-borne refugees have fanned out across the country, settling in cities, such as Los Angeles and San Francisco, that already had well-rooted latino communities. Some, like legions of immigrants before them, simply went where job prospects seemed brightest. José Martin and his wife Lina settled initially in Los Angeles, where Martin had an uncle. But established Cubans there advised him to move to Chicago or New York. "They told me there were more factories in those cities," he recalls. As a machine-shop operator...
...Sarmiento lived with relatives in Miami while he learned English and prepared for an entrance exam to Florida International University. Last April, Sarmiento became the first Marielito to earn an FLU. engineering degree. When he is not out looking for work, like any new graduate, he fiddles with programs on his home computer. "To think," marvels Sarmiento, "back in Cuba I didn't own even a pocket calculator...
With family reunions a distant hope, some frustrated Marielitos have suffered bouts of drinking and depression. A few have taken desperate measures to get back home: nine of the twelve successful hijackings to Cuba since May were committed by Marielitos. Still others-usually the criminals and sociopaths of Castro's prisons and asylums-resorted to crime, helping to make "Marielito" for many a catchword for terror. Typically, the Mariel misfits are young men between the ages of 18 and 34, unemployed, with the equivalent of a ninth-grade education and a history of emotional and mental problems. Many wear...
Wherever the lawless Cubans have migrated, crime has soared. In Las Vegas, where there are an estimated 3,500 boat people, Marielitos account for 25% of the cocaine trade. In New Orleans, over a ten-month period ending last April, there were 15 Cuban homicides involving 29 Marielitos as either murderers or victims. This criminal element tends to prey on other Cubans; its tastes run to brutal crimes of random opportunity. A chilling example is a Marielito who specializes in assaulting Miami Beach's elderly. One 90-year-old victim was hurled from his bed, kicked in the face...