By Carlos Miller
I was 11 years old when the Mariel boatlift changed the face of Miami forever.
Next week will mark the 29th anniversary of the boatlift that brought more than 125,000 Cubans to Miami during a five-month span. How times flies.
It wasn’t easy. It was a cultural shock for all of us. But we got through it.
Today, Miami Beach 411 published a piece I wrote about the boatlift. It’s recommended reading if you want to know the story of Mariel beyond the movie Scarface.
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4 responses so far ↓
1 Macro photography // Apr 11, 2009 at 2:20 AM
Thanks for sharing this.
2 swampthing // Apr 11, 2009 at 3:04 PM
thanks bro, people need to be reminded every so often of the tragedy that is cuban-power.
I get your passion.
3 Ms Calabaza // Apr 12, 2009 at 12:37 PM
Great piece Carlos. Happy Easter to you and your readers!
4 W.B. Burkholder // Aug 26, 2009 at 6:58 PM
Mariel Reflections
Recollections of Florida beaches,
Strewn with human cargo.
The wreckage and flotsam,
The derivatives of ancient
Haitian teak, and Cuban dreams of
Liberty and Freedom.
The exodus of one way packet fleets,
Sailing for elusive dreams,
Fifty people in a thirty foot vessel.
The risk is worth the wrath
Of the Sargasso Sea.
How can I convey the loss and human toll?
What can one say, when you see them sink and drown
Just fifteen yards shy of freedom’s caress?
Gray bearded rats, and demented, dictatorial doctors
Pushed them onto their homeland shores,
Pitching them into the sea.
A Haitian and Cuban cemetery…
Lost futures and wasted dreams
At the hand of Power’s
Hierarchy.
These waters and reflections
Have become a part of me.
I used to love the Ocean,
In my youth it was my calling.
The only call that I hear now
Are the screams of the drowning and dying.
And to what ends I ask?
And to what ends I ask?
So much for the poor and down trodden,
But this is one who has never forgotten.
The scars of memory
Shall remain,
And I shall never forget.
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