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Cuban boatlift an important
event in area history
By Tribune editorial staff.
Published Tuesday, May 31, 2005 in The
La Crosse Tribune.
Our story Sunday about the 25th anniversary
of the Cuban boatlift and its impact on
the Coulee Region brought several thoughts
to mind.
The first is the importance of freedom
- freedom of movement, freedom of speech,
freedom to worship, economic freedom, all
of these are important. Sometimes we take
these freedoms for granted, and that never
should be the case.
Less obvious, but just as important, is
the significance of Fort McCoy as a place
where large numbers of people can be processed
or mobilized for something.
In May 1980, what would become the Mariel
boatlift in Cuba began slowly - when 10,000
Cubans sought sanctuary in the Peruvian
Embassy in Havana. Eventually, 125,000 Cubans
would leave for the United States.
About 15,000 ended up being sent to Fort
McCoy and later to communities with sponsors
willing to take them.
Another inescapable fact about the Cuban
boatlift is that Fidel Castro really did
empty jails and mental hospitals in the
process of allowing people to leave his
country. There was considerably more crime
in the area as a result of the boatlift.
Administering the refugee camp was always
difficult - first for the Federal Emergency
Management Agency and later for the State
Department. The large percentage of criminals
and mental patients in the mix made administration
difficult. But the refugees were processed
and sent on to other places, either to sponsors
in communities or to Fort Chaffee, Ark.,
where some 3,244 were transferred. About
1,000 were sent to prisons.
It was a difficult job, performed as well
as could be by the staff and volunteers
at Fort McCoy.
Eventually, the refugees left the area,
bound for Florida and other parts of the
country where there are expatriate Cuban
communities. That flood of people included
families and individuals who were only looking
for freedom and opportunity - as well as
people who were in trouble with the law.
Still, despite all of the problems, officials
at Fort McCoy did manage to perform a Herculean
task of getting the facility ready for the
refugees on just a few days notice. That
speaks well to the fort's utility as a place
where large numbers of people can be housed
and processed. It was a historic time, and
an important one for Fort McCoy and for
the surrounding communities.
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© 1997 - 2005 The La Crosse Tribune.
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