The abandoned ones

Mark S. Hamm

In 1980, Fidel Castro, compelled by worsening economic conditions in Cuba and growing anti-Castro sentiment, reached an immigration accord with the United States that led to the largest Cuban exodus in history. The mass emigration began on April 20, 1980, when Castro announced that any Cuban who wanted to leave the country would be permitted to evacuate from the Port of Mariel. More than 120,000 Cubans joined the Freedom Flotilla for resettlement in the United States. The U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) initially welcomed the "Marielitos," but officials soon began to notice Cuban men who were "more hardened and rougher in appearance," which led to a widespread belief, fueled by the media, that Castro was using the accord to empty Cuba's prisons and hospitals of hard-core criminals and the mentally ill. Several thousand Cubans were detained without due process at the...

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