ABSTRACT
Key West, Florida, in mid-April of 1980, was in clamorous chaos, like a latter-day gold rush town. Cuban-Americans swarmed the docks with fists, pockets, briefcases, suitcases crammed with cash. Boat owners leaped to the opportunity, chartering or even selling their boats to the highest bidders. Store owners, too, profited as their shelves were briskly emptied of everything from food to fuel. In Cuba, Castro had just opened the port of Mariel, and Americans reacted with a kind of frontier riotousness. The sea lanes were choked with boats heading to Cuba. From Washington had come threats that boats returning from Cuba would be subjected to fines or seizure, but Cuban exiles and boat owners alike freely ignored the warnings. The Coast Guard, which should have seized the illegal boats, had all it could do to rescue disabled boats too small to make the trip.
