The Cuban exiles who arrived in Wisconsin in 1980 as part of the Mariel Boatlift have become family to one another. They are Wisconsinites. But their hearts remain in Cuba, and they want to visit their homeland one more time if they can find a way.
A drive-in screening of the film "Top Gun: Maverick" at Penn State York, the final fall installment of the "Research Unplugged" series, the annual THON 5K and a multimedia opera at Eisenhower Auditorium are among the cultural highlights across Penn State this weekend and next week.
Fort McCoy was one of four U.S. military installations that housed Cuban refugees after the Mariel Boatlift in 1980. Almost 15,000 Cubans lived there that summer and fall while waiting to connect with family members or find sponsors.
Some Mariel refugees made questionable decisions while adjusting to life in the Midwest in the 1980s. They've all faced discrimination. And all of them have tried to move forward as their pasts continue to haunt them.
The Cuban revolution promised people a better life: free health care, schools and subsidized housing for everyone. But this came at a cost and some weren't willing to pay the price. So they began leaving the country in the 1960s, and it all came to a head in 1980.