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

20. Tuesday, May 6 - The Mixed Blessing

20 Tuesday, May 6—The Mixed Blessing Wash­ing­ton, D.C. On May 6, 47 members of Congress wrote to President Carter regarding the boatlift. The letter stated: “Instead of making this an orderly evacuation, we have seen you fail to seize this opportunity, resulting in reckless attempts by Cubans in Florida to retrieve their compatriots in tiny boats, some of which have already capsized with loss of life.” While some supported the boatlift, other members of Congress continued to demand that the administration forcibly return the boats to Cuba, regardless of possible loss of life. Eugene Eidenberg noticed one representative, inflated with indignation, pounding the table during a meeting to get his point across: “The United States government can stop this. We can fire on these people. We can prevent them from coming in. We can do anything we want.” President Carter turned to the politician with a look that withered him and replied, “The United States government is not going to use its military power to sink boats with women and children on them.” It was like sticking a pin in a balloon (Eidenberg 1991). Tallahassee, Florida Governor Graham started his day with an early 8:35 a.m. press conference and a meeting with Wilkerson regarding his later refugee briefing. According to Wilkerson, as of 8 a.m. that morning, 17,636 refugees and 617 boats had arrived from Mariel Harbor. In Key West, 3,338 refugees were at the shelter and 400 at the docks, still being processed. Eglin housed 2,083 Marielitos by then, thanks to the 10 flights back and forth, which had carried 1,469 passengers. While sorting out the arrivals, the government continued to face dire issues . The West Palm Beach Fairgrounds threatened to close down, and there 198 • Chapter 20 weren’t enough buses for transportation. Private bus companies did not want to rent buses to the state, so the government had to use state buses. To further complicate matters, using the state buses meant the National Guardsmen had to wait for transportation for days. They were also short on drivers for the 31 buses. Even if there were enough, the buses simply didn’t hold enough people; the backlog of passengers never seemed to diminish. More than 4,800 refugees waited to be bused to the airport and flown to Eglin. The state was anxious to turn the transportation responsibilities over to the federal government but had to continue operations until that happened. Key West, Florida As the days wore on, the feds moved out of the EOC and into the old post office building, off the base. FEMA representative Wayne Kaiser was responsible for FEMA supplies to set up shop. The transition ran smoothly. The Red Cross, which was now assisting in whatever way it could, was expected to continue feeding refugees through­ out the transition, but problems arose when the organization announced it would work only at the administration building and not at the pier. Food was desperately needed at the pier for refugees just getting off the boats, so Dr. Truman McCasland found the Red Cross’s demand a bit ridiculous. Basically, the Red Cross refused to use the pier’s kitchen because it was in terrible condition. Instead, workers wanted to use the administration building ’s larger kitchen and then ship food over to the pier. “If they thought it was bad then, they should have been there the end of April,” McCasland remarked (1991). McCasland believed all of the preparation and change was in anticipation of President Carter finally delivering an emergency declaration. An unspoken excitement spread through­ out the city, as people hoped Carter would finally make the awaited announcement. South Florida The West Palm Beach Fairgrounds center had received an additional 650 refugees the previous night. Nearly all of them were male. Officials became concerned about security and pub­lic reaction. One arrival had a large, severe wound that had not yet been treated. He stated he had been stabbed with a bayonet while still in Cuba. Volunteers sent him to International Hospital. Following The Mixed Blessing • 199 worries of the center being closed down, state and federal authorities sent a message to the fairgrounds administration insisting that usage continue. Meanwhile , Eglin was in dire need of mattresses. While centers continued to demand supplies, confusion erupted regarding responsibility yet again. PHS was concerned with who had responsibility to run Key...