MARIEL, Cuba – Roberto Damas' beloved island was in the hands of Fidel Castro's revolution, and after spending years as a political prisoner, he fled to Miami in one of U.S. President Lyndon Johnson's "freedom flights."
Castro closed businesses and confiscated private property. Damas, 77, was among an estimated quarter million Cubans, whom the U.S. welcomed as political refugees by 1974. Leaving his family behind haunted him.
In the 1980s, Castro was allowing Cubans to leave the island. To help rescue relatives, Damas and a few other families came up with $45,000 to rent a 65-foot boat. They departed from Key West and arrived at the Port of Mariel, west of Havana.
"I claimed 80 relatives," Damas said, but only three made it out. "Our boat was big. It was called 'The Hurricane.'"
Officials made him wait for 11 days in the port. It was torture, he said. After paying off officers, he was able to rescue his brother, Carlos Damas, his sister-in-law, Consuelo Damas, and his niece Ileana. There were at least 150 others in the boat, some of whom he was forced to take, he said. They departed from a sea of tears. Families were torn apart again.
In Mariel, Felicia Vasquez Hernandez said she still remembers the boatlift. The port was full of sadness, because many knew that their loved ones were not going to go back to the island, she said. There were also fears over the treacherous Florida Straits.
Damas' boat was not the only crowded vessel. Castro also deported common criminals. Nancy Lima Diaz said she remembers there were hundreds of boats. The exodus of about 125,000 between April and October 1980 became known as the Mariel boat lift.
A lot has changed since Damas rescued his brother from Cuba's Mariel Harbor, now known as the $1 billion Mariel free trade zone project. Castro handed over power to his brother, Raul Castro, and resigned in 2008. Container shipping was transferred from Havana to Mariel, though the capital still receives fuel tankers.
Brazil helped to finance $682 million and Brazil's Odebrecht engineering group got a contract, Brazilian and Cuban reports said. The Mariel dredging project has a target depth of 59 feet to welcome mega-ships coming from the Panama Canal and the Nicaragua canal project.
But with Odebrecht's CEO, Marcelo Odebrecht, jailed in Brazil over corruption and money laundering, the project may be facing complications. Former president Luz Inacio Lula da Silva was accused of lobbying for the company in Cuba, Brazilian magazine Epoca reported.
President Barack Obama eased economic restrictions, despite a trade embargo that remains in place under U.S. law. This upset Damas, who hasn't been back to Cuba since he rescued his brother in Mariel.
Damas, who lives in Miami-Dade County, has children and grandchildren who were born and raised in the United States. He also has relatives on the island whom he hasn't met.
"I am not going back there -- not while Communism still exists," Damas said.
