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21 Wednesday, May 7—Marines, Winn-­ Dixie, and Bologna Key West, Florida The day started with Customs agents seizing two suspected Castro agents inside the crowded hangar. As they were taken away, shouts of “Bravo!” erupted from the refugees. Sergio Piñón related his struggles with the Cuban agents: “You can tell how unprepared the FBI was. There was this one guy who went by the FBI. When I got him, he admitted to being a Cuban agent, but he said he rebelled against Cuba and wanted to come over. He admitted he lied to the FBI. I said here, Frank (Frank Simmons was one of the FBI agents), this guy is an agent. That’s the kind of things that happened. The people who had the first shot should have detected him. They were not capable. Most were Mexican FBI agents talking to Cubans and they did not get anywhere. Cubans are [very sharp], different in nature, the way they speak, terminology. An Ameri­ can would do a better job” (Piñón 1990). Other refugees who wanted them gone had reportedly identified the two agents. One agent was identified as a Havana prison guard. While segregating women and children from the men had helped reduce tensions in the hangar, the “obvious queers,” according to one spokesman, were having the opposite effect. He indicated that there were many. The immigration of homosexuals to the United States at the time was not legal by immigration law, but the White House had reportedly extended its “open arms, open heart” policy to include gays. Paul Hardman, publisher of the Voice in San Francisco, quoted an aide to President Carter as saying, “For obvious humanitarian reasons , persons likely to suffer persecution because of their sexual orientation who are among those in the Peruvian Embassy Compound in Havana and seeking asylum as refugees shall not be denied entry into the United States because of sexual orientation.” Hardman added that the spokesman also said, “This does not mean there is any change in the law” (Key West Citizen 1980q). 210 • Chapter 21 Key West, Florida Governor Graham made his unannounced visit to Key West for two hours during the early morning of May 7, touring the refugee facilities. Among the areas he toured was the Trumbo Point hangar, where more than 4,000 refugees were housed while awaiting transportation to Eglin Air Force Base or Miami. The backlog of refugees continued to build rapidly. The previous day, only 3,000 refugees had been flown from Key West, while a total of 4,360 refugees were expected to have arrived (Key West Citizen 1980q). By the end of the sec­ ond week, nearly 30,000 refugees had arrived and most still remained in the Key West area. “There is a constant feeling of unrest at the hangar because you cannot move them or process them as quickly as you want,” a spokesman at the command post indicated (Key West Citizen 1980q). The potential for rioting escalated again, as refugees fought for places in bus lines. “They don’t want to lose their place in line,” National Guard Lt. Col. Richard Capps explained. “They’re not bad people. They just want to get out of here” (Key West Citizen 1980r). Following the issuance of the president’s executive order allowing the federal government to intervene in the Mariel Boatlift crisis, the Marines were supposed to assume control in Key West the morning of May 7. Since they were assured the Marines were coming, Villella pulled the state’s forces off, and the National Guardsmen were already on their way home. “We were told the Marines would be arriving at around 6 a.m. or 7 a.m., and that we would be turning things over to them and FEMA,” Villella said (1990). But of course, things didn’t happen as planned. While Villella managed to get a few minutes of sleep in his hotel room, he awoke to another frantic call, this time from the highway patrol. “We were having another riot.” When ­Villella got to the scene, he asked a patrolman what had happened. The Marines had not shown up. It was already around 10 a.m. They had no guards on duty. ­ Villella had been told that along with guarding the hangar, the Marines would feed the refugees. Since barely anyone showed up, no one was fed. About 4,000 people in the hangar hadn’t eaten in almost 24 hours. “All they did was send...

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