Award-winning Miami Herald Photographer Al Diaz Captures the 1994 Cuban Exodus That Led to the ‘Wet-foot, Dry-foot’ Immigration Policy

New Exhibition on View at the Historical Museum of Southern Florida

February 24 – June 4, 2006

MIAMI, FL (January 24, 2006) – In early August of 1994, Cuban President Fidel Castro was threatening to unlock his country’s immigration gates for the first time since the Mariel boatlift 14 years earlier. The Miami Herald sent me to cover the story. I arrived in Cuba as a tourist, operating in a vacuum. Cuban television wasn’t reporting it, there was no such thing as Internet on the island and telephone conversations with my editors back in Miami were minimal. Then, one night, I was tipped that people were down the beach at Cojimar, just east of Havana. When I got there, I saw homemade rafts on the water, some overflowing with passengers, built by the blackened hands of desperate men.

The above account is award-winning veteran Miami Herald photographer Al Diaz’s description of what he captured on film during the 1994 Cuban exodus: an armada of rickety rafts, and the desperation on people's faces as they tried to flee their homeland. Balseros – A Desperate Journey: Cuban Photographs by Al Diaz features the event that drew international attention and was the impetus for the Clinton administration’s “wet-foot, dry-foot” immigration policy—Cuban refugees who successfully landed on U.S. soil would be admitted and granted residency, those intercepted at sea would be returned to their homeland. The exhibition will be on display February 24 through June 4 at the Historical Museum of Southern Florida in downtown Miami’s Cultural Center.

Balseros is presented in a series of twenty-two vivid color photographs. They reveal the frenzy of Cubans fleeing their country: people demolishing their homes and making vessels out of the debris, a woman praying for guidance while clinging to her life preserver, a rafter righting his boat as it overturns, well-wishers gathering to see off family and friends and a Cuban police officer dispersing a crowd of onlookers after the body of a rafter washes ashore.

Diaz recalls what he witnessed: “It was intense, emotional, unbelievable. The balseros, the rafters, they shouted out their feelings, their goodbyes, and then they left. They said they would rather die than stay in Cuba. I wanted to share this experience, these photographs, because you can’t begin to imagine what it was like unless you were there.”

Between August 5 and September 13, 1994, more than 37,000 Cubans, mostly men, sailed the Gulf Stream on the treacherous ninety mile voyage to the United States. It is estimated that only four out of every ten made it to the U.S. shoreline. Many were arrested, some turned back, others where picked up and taken to refugee camps. The rest perished.

In his twenty-three year career, Al Diaz has covered breaking new stories throughout the United States, Latin America and the Caribbean. He was part of the Miami Herald news team that won the 1993 Pulitzer Prize Gold Medal for coverage of Hurricane Andrew. Over the years, he has received numerous honors from prestigious organizations including the National Press Photographers Pictures of the Year, the Robert F. Kennedy Journalism Award, the Southern Photographer of the Year and the National Association of Hispanic Journalists. In 2003, he was an advisor and contributor to Assignment Miami: News Photographers, an exhibition presented at the Historical Museum of Southern Florida. Diaz has shot numerous sporting events, including the Athens 2004 Olympic Games.

For more information about Balseros – A Desperate Journey: Cuban Photographs by Al Diaz, call at 305.375.1492.

Caribbean Collage: Archival Collections and the Construction of History, an exhibition of highlights from one of the world’s largest collections of Caribbean archival and library materials, will also be on view February 24 through June 4, 2006. The exhibition features original documents and rare books and maps from the collection of the University of Florida’s George A. Smathers Libraries.

The Historical Museum of Southern Florida is dedicated to telling the story of South Florida and the Caribbean, in order to enhance the community’s quality of life by understanding the past, linking it to the present and building a better future. The Historical Museum hosts a permanent exhibition gallery and a special gallery with several changing exhibitions each year. In addition, the museum houses the Research Center, a non-circulating library and archives open to museum visitors, and The Indies Company, the museum’s store, which offers a unique array of Florida-themed books and gifts. The Historical Museum is located in downtown Miami in the Miami-Dade Cultural Center, across the street from Metro-rail’s Government Center Station at 101 West Flagler Street, Miami, Florida 33130. Hours are Mon.-Sat. 10 a.m. - 5 p.m., Thursdays 10am-9pm and Sun. noon - 5 p.m. Admission for adults is $5, children (ages 6-12) is $2, and children under 6 are free Saturday is free admission, and Sunday is by contribution.

###

HISTORICAL MUSEUM
OF SOUTHERN FLORIDA