Mariel boatlift

The Mariel boatlift was a real-life event in 1980 when 125,000 people from Cuba moved to the United States. At that time, Cuba was ruled by a dictator called Fidel Castro. The people living in Cuba were not happy with how Fidel was running the country, so many of them decided to leave and move to the United States, which has a more democratic way of life. To do this, the Cuban people had to take boats, or ships, to get to the United States. This was called the Mariel boatlift, because the boats all started in a place called Mariel, in Cuba. Once they arrived in the United States, they had the chance to live a better life.