Marielita

Marielito is a term applied to roughly 125,000 people who fled to the United States from the Cuban port of Mariel as part of the exodus of refugees in 1980.

"Scarface", a 1983 movie starring Al Pacino, concerns a fictional Marielito, a criminal released from the Cuban prison population to the US. Because a number of prisoners were released alongside other refugees, an impression developed of "Marielitos", and even Cuban exiles in general, as being criminals.

ee also

*Mariel boatlift