Immigrants & Migrants
Resources
—Latin Americans—
Creator:
La Crosse Tribune (Wis.)
Description:
The Freedom Flotilla, also known as the Mariel Boatlift, occurred in 1980 after President Carter opened the doors to the United States for hundreds of thousands of Cuban refugees, of which nearly 15,000 would eventually arrive at the resettlement camp at Fort McCoy in western Wisconsin. Countless regional and national news articles were published following and highlighting both the positive and negative events that came with the refugees, many of whom were classified as criminals under the Fidel Castro government. This collection contains photographs and a local publication titled El Mercurio de McCoy. The photographs were taken by journalists reporting on the Cuban Odyssey, most of whom worked for the La Crosse Tribune, bringing together nearly 250 images of individuals and events directly involved with the Freedom Flotilla. El Mercurio de McCoy is a bilingual newspaper produced by Fort McCoy resettlement staff, the US Army Psychological Operations Company (PSYOPS), and refugees at Fort McCoy. It consists of 53 issues from June 3, 1980, to September 29, 1980. The digitization of Mercurio de McCoy is a collaboration between Murphy Library at UW-La Crosse and the Center for Latin American and Caribbean Studies at UW-Milwaukee, the latter of which owns and houses the physical newspaper.
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Author:
La Crosse Public Library
Description:
Photograph of Cuban refugees who arrived in Wisconsin in 1980 as a result of the Port of Mariel exodus, showing everyday life in the refugee detention center at Fort McCoy, Wis. The Mariel Exodus digital collection is held by the La Crosse Public Library Archives. This digitization project was funded in part by a 2023 grant from Wisconsin Humanities, with funds from the National Endowment for the Humanities and the State of Wisconsin. The La Crosse Public Library does not own the original image but has been granted permission from the U.S. Army (owner) to share this image.