Information on 1980 Exodus from Cuba
| Publisher | Canada: Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada |
| Author | Research Directorate, Immigration and Refugee Board, Canada |
| Publication Date | 1 April 1990 |
| Citation / Document Symbol | CUB5188 |
| Cite as | Canada: Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada, Information on 1980 Exodus from Cuba, 1 April 1990, CUB5188, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/3ae6ab7e60.html [accessed 19 May 2023] |
| Disclaimer | This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States. |
According to a speaker of the National Association of Cuban-Canadians (NACC) in Ottawa, [ As communicated by phone on 26 January 1990.] after the occupation of the Peruvian embassy in Havana by asylum seekers in 1980, the Cuban government accepted their evacuation by sea, only through the port of Mariel (hence the commonly used term "Mariel boatlift"). People from abroad had to go and pick up their relatives by boat but were forced to take with them others who were unwanted by the Cuban government. These unwanted included mentally ill, homosexuals (who are usually harassed and discriminated against in Cuba [ Ibid, and International Handbook for Human Rights, (New York: Greenwood Press, 1987), p. 106.]) and convicts. However, some convicts had been jailed under different laws which typify as crimes actions which are not considered as such in other countries. An example would be the "pre-delictive" or preventive laws, which allow detention and imprisonment for people who could potentially commit acts typified as crimes under the Cuban legislation. These could include dissenters and political activists who oppose the government or, in a broader term, the Cuban Revolution.
However, not all those who sought asylum in the Peruvian Embassy were allowed to leave the country. Three Cubans have remained for more than eight years in the Peruvian Embassy in Havana, one of which was able to leave and arrived in Canada with his relatives in 1989. [ "Asilados salen a Canad ", in Boletín de la National Association of Cuban Canadians, April 1989, p. 3.]
Please find attached copies of Human Rights in Cuba (Washington: Americas Watch, January 1989), pages 51-53, and "Cubans to take back 2,500 refugees from U.S." (The Ottawa Citizen, 21 November 1987, p. A22), which provide more details on the Mariel Boatlift and related events.
