The Cuban Crazy House Story

1980

A True Story

Written 2010* 295 Words*

By Howard Yasgar

It was in 1958, when Fidel Castro, a Communist, took over control of the Island of Cuba.

It was then in 1980 when he announced he would let any Cuban desiring to leave the island do so.

Hundreds of boats from Miami and Key West left to go to the Port of Mariel in Cuba, their intentions were to pick up all their relatives and bring them to Miami.

However, Castro had other plans, before he allowed anyone’s relatives to leave the island. He emptied out all the jails and sanitariums, and he loaded the people on boats and sent them all straight to Miami.

At the time, I was in the automotive parts business in Miami and the Mariel boat lift was a good thing for us, as we were able to hire several well qualified Cuban mechanics as soon as they arrived in Miami.

Many of the Cubans that came over on the Mariel boat lift, soon opened up their own small businesses in Miami, and several became our customers.

One day, one of the new small business owners stopped by, and I took him for a grand tour of our facilities.

As we walked around the building, he appeared to recognize one of my employees.

When we returned to the front office, he said, "I don't want to alarm you, but be careful I recognized one of your employees, his name is Jorge, I had seen him when I visited the crazy house in Cuba”.

I told him that Jorge was an excellent employee, and I thanked him for telling me. A few days later, Jorge came up to the front office to see me.

He said, “The other day, I saw you showing a fellow around, and I don't want to alarm you but you need to be careful, I recognized him, his name is Jose and I saw him when he was in the crazy house in Cuba.”