Florida and the Mariel Boatlift of 1980: The First Twenty Days

4. The Events that Led to the Mariel Boatlift

4 The Events That Led to the Mariel Boatlift Starting in May 1979, discontented Cubans perpetrated a rash of spectacular escapes into Latin Ameri­ can embassies in Havana. These events would culminate in the infamous Mariel exodus. On May 14, 1979, 12 Cubans crashed a bus through the Venezuelan Embassy’s gates. Cuban authorities shot at the bus, and five Cubans were wounded. Further escapes followed, all into the Venezuelan Embassy, on May 25, June 9, and De­ cem­ ber 14, 1979. On Janu­ ary 21, 1980, two groups of asylum-­ seeking Cubans drove trucks into the Venezuelan and Peruvian Embassies under a barrage of bullets from Cuban security forces. One person was killed and two injured at the Venezuelan Embassy. Venezuela recalled its ambassador in protest.1 Then, on the afternoon of April 1, 1980, Hector Sanyustiz, an unemployed Cuban bus driver, along with five accomplices—Radamés Gómez, Francisco Molina Díaz, María Antonia Martínez, Martínez’s 12-­ year-­ old stepson Lázaro Vega, and Sanyustiz’s 18-­year-­old stepson Arturo Quevedo—attempted to drive Molina Díaz’s bus through the gates of the Peruvian Embassy to secure asylum. However, Sanyustiz made a mistake and turned too soon, before the entrance. When he realized his mistake, Sanyustiz backed up, drove a few more yards, and rammed through the gates. Cuban guards at the embassy fired on the bus. Two bullets hit Sanyustiz; Gómez suffered superficial wounds. Gunfire killed one guard, a 27-­ year-­ old interior ministry policeman. Though the Cuban government blamed the hijackers, the Peruvians said one guard accidentally shot the other (Santiago 1998). The Peruvian Embassy refused to acquiesce to Cuba’s demands to return the embassy refugees. An enraged Castro, in an angry tirade to Jamaican prime minister Michael Manley, vowed to “turn this shit against the United States” (Santiago 1998). Florida governor Bob Graham recounted his discovery of the situation, remembering that he was first aware of something starting in April 1980. ­Graham was in Wash­ ing­ ton, D.C., as the first chair for Caribbean-­ Central Ameri­ can 30 • Chapter 4­ Action, a private-­ sector group whose goal was to promote relations between the United States and countries of the Caribbean and Central America. “We adjourned for lunch,” Graham remembered. “There was a State Department official sitting to my left, and, as the lunch was getting started, he was being interrupted . Aware of the fact that he was causing some commotion, he said, ‘Let me tell you what these messages are: Several days ago, Castro became irritated by [Peru granting asylum to Cubans who forced their way into the ­ embassy], . . . and in response to that Castro announced that he was withdrawing his security around the Peruvian Embassy’” (Graham 1991). In a typical maneuver, Fidel Castro, instead of defensively closing the Peruvian Embassy, went on the offense. On April 4, Castro went on television and publicly declared Cuba would not “protect embassies which do not cooperate,” lifting the guards from the Peruvian Embassy. Gov. Bob Graham stated: “What he [Castro] didn’t anticipate, and what, in fact, happened, was that in a matter of hours there were 10,000 people inside the Peruvian Embassy, all seeking diplomatic asylum. Now, the question was what to do with all these Cubans inside the Peruvian Embassy” (Graham 1991). Castro now raced to dominate the out-­ of-­ control situation. Although it became obvious later on that Castro had been plotting to force the United States to receive a new wave of refugees in order to alleviate Cuba’s domestic, economic, and social pressures, he had not expected a popu­ lar stampede. He ordered a halt to the movement of people, streets to the embassy were closed, and barricades sealed off the area. Thousands more marauded in the vicinity, waiting for an opportunity to break the security encirclement and jump over the fence. Inside the compound there was no food, medicine, or proper sanitary conditions . The Peruvian government, overwhelmed by the number of refugees on its embassy grounds, appealed for help to the entire diplomatic community in Havana. Venezuela, Ecuador, Costa Rica, and the United States agreed to accept refugees, and the United Nations Commission on Refugees was called on to assist. Although the Cuban government had origi­ nally said everyone could go, it now wanted to choose who could leave (Wash­ing­ton Post, April 16, 1980). Early in April, Cuba had allowed 300 refugees to leave the country for Costa...