Against Wind and Tide: A Cuban Odyssey was a film directed by Jim Burroughs that depicts the migration of Cuban refugees in the 1980a. The mass departure was also known as the Mariel Boatlift where thousands of Cubans departed from Cuban’s Mariel harbor to United States. Jim and his men conducted the documentation by boarding a flotilla vessel bound for Mariel harbor and observing the lives of some Cubans during their stay at the United States.
Concentrating on the Cuban refugees who came in the United States in 1980, this film looks at the uncertain American immigration policy that leads to the misery of many Cuban migrants. The refugees also suffered awful treatment from the American public which considered the refugees unnecessary ‘allies.’
These refugees were mostly men who have relatives in the United States and some were mental health patients, prison convicts and homosexual whom the Cuban government considered them as objectionable persons.
The United States State Department treated the refugees as economic burden rather than treating them as a victim of some political oppression. Most of the migrants were young men and women averaging thirty years of age and they were also racially diverse. They were also people who had less formal education and many were also socialist.
The Cuban ‘immigration’ was politically motivated. Fidel Castro, Cuba’s dictator, exported his enemies to the United States, emptying prisons and internment camps. The Cuban community in Florida was also known as the Casablanca of the West – a region characterized by political malice, corruption, and conspiracy.
