Cubans Look for a New Home

EARLY in 1980, a group of Cubans in a truck forced their way into the Peruvian Embassy in Havana. They were seeking asylum so that they could eventually leave the country. Soon afterward, the Cuban government announced that anyone else wanting to go to Peru would be free to leave.

Within two days, over 10,000 people jammed the embassy grounds in the hope of leaving Cuba. Within weeks, the matter had become international news, as tens of thousands more were permitted to leave. About 120,000 went to the United States alone.

The Cuban refugee problem is not new. For years, many hundreds of thousands have left for other lands. Among the countries that have permitted them entry are Bolivia, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Peru, Spain, the United States and Venezuela. Other nations also have indicated that they will take such refugees.

Why Did They Leave?

Why did these refugees leave Cuba? The reasons varied greatly. Some thought that they could find a better way of life in another country. Others came into difficulty because of not being in agreement with the policies of the regime in power and fled the country to escape the problems that followed.

Also, in 1980 the Cuban government decided to take the opportunity to rid itself, on a large scale, of many whom they considered undesirable. For example, after the flow of refugees began, criminals were taken out of jails and forced into the refugee boats to get them out of the country. Others who were considered politically dangerous had the same experience. Some who were known homosexuals were also forced to leave.

Another Type of Refugee

However, among the refugees who left Cuba in 1980 were about 3,000 who were forced out for a different reason. The newspaper News-Times of York, Nebraska, tells about it, saying: “Among the highly publicized groups of criminals and homosexuals who arrived in the United States in the Cuban boat-lift, is another, less publicized group whose only crime is that they continued to worship God in their own way despite the fact that their sect was outlawed five years ago.”

The News-Times identified that group as Jehovah’s Witnesses. It added: “Jehovah’s Witnesses have suffered before under dictatorships for refusing to bear arms and take part in the government in power, things their faith prevents them from doing. In Hitler’s Germany, Witnesses went to the gas chambers along with Jews and other ‘undesirables.”’

But what, exactly, were the circumstances that forced this special group of men, women and children to leave Cuba? What conditions did they endure? What did they leave behind? In the next several pages we will let the Cuban refugees themselves answer these questions as they tell their story.

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CUBA

Port Mariel

Havana

CUBA