Marazul: 45 years in the business of travel to Cuba
(This is the first of two-part series about the history of the Miami and New Jersey travel and Charter Flight agency, Marazul, written by one of its former presidents, Armando Garcia.)
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After the Cuban Revolution triumphed in January 1959, communications between Cuba and the United States continued until 1961, when the U.S. broke off diplomatic relations. Then came a gradual development of policies of embargo on the island, including restrictions on travel from the U.S.
From 1961 to 1977, there were no significant changes in relations between the two countries until Jimmy Carter and Fidel Castro agreed to open Interest Sections for each country in Washington, D.C. and Havana. These offices were defined as a step below an embassy and served various exchange purposes without the need to re-establish diplomatic relations. In 1977, the Carter administration also eliminated travel restrictions to Cuba, creating a general license for people traveling from the United States.
In December 1977, a group of fifty-five young Cubans residing outside the island traveled legally from the United States with the aim of opening communications with Cubans on the island and promoting friendship and reconciliation. The group, organized under the name of the Antonio Maceo Brigade, reunited with relatives and met with Cuban government officials. The three-week tour had an impact on both sides and laid the foundation for future trips and exchanges. Since there were no direct flights between the U.S. and Cuba, the Brigade traveled to and from the island through Jamaica.
In November 1978, a group of seventy-five representatives of Cuban communities abroad—known as the Committee of 75—met with the island’s government. A month later, another meeting of approximately 145 representatives of Cuban communities took place in Havana. Discussions at both meetings included the liberation of political prisoners and their emigration, as well as the emigration of thousands of ex-prisoners and their families. Additionally, the possibility of opening family reunification travel to Cuba was discussed and approved. This process was called El Dialogo (The Dialogue).
In January 1979, Francisco Aruca, a Diálogo participant, led the founding of Marazul. He and his associates established the main offices in New York City, although he was also involved in one way or another with the Miami, Washington, D.C., and Los Angeles offices.
Marazul has maintained the following three goals since its founding:
- The reunification of Cuban families living on the island and abroad.
- Facilitating travel to Cuba for the greatest possible number of individuals and groups in the United States so that they could judge the experience for themselves.
- Helping to end Cuba travel restrictions and the economic blockade imposed by the United States.
In 1979, part of the Cuban community in the U.S. responded enthusiastically to the possibility of returning to Cuba to visit relatives. Some 100,000 Cubans travelled to the island that first year through travel agencies established in different cities in the U.S. and Puerto Rico. The great influx of travelers had an impact on Cuban society and, compounded with other factors, contributed to the mass migration known as “El Mariel”, where approximately 125,000 people emigrated by sea from the port of Mariel to Key West, Florida, from April to October of 1980.
After Marazul and other Cuba travel agencies began their operations, opponents of the dialogue with the Cuban government, family travel, and other visits by non-Cubans from the U.S. began to emerge in Cuban communities outside the island.
Several counter-revolutionary organizations of Cuban exiles activated their respective terrorist groups. In April 1979, one of these groups assassinated Carlos Muñiz Varela, the president of Viajes Varadero in Puerto Rico. A 26-year-old father of two small children, Carlos was an advocate for dialogue and an active organizer of family reunification trips to Cuba. To this day—45 years after the founding of the agency and Carlos’s assassination—his friends and family continue to demand that the results of local and federal investigations of the case be made public.
Terrorist acts in response to the opening of travel and exchanges continued from 1979 to 2001 — unfortunately they included assassinations, bombings, and hundreds of threats. After the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001, police authorities, the FBI, and other national security and law enforcement agencies pressured terrorist organizations in Cuban communities to put an end to their operations.
In Marazul‘s case, threats to owners and employees were common, especially in the Miami offices. Although there was no direct personal harm, bombs exploded at Marazul offices in 1986 and 1989. Years later, during a single week in 1996, fires caused by Molotov cocktails occurred at two company facilities in Miami.
From the beginning, Marazul has organized family visits and coordinated Cuban passport services, visas, and other official documents through the Cuban consulate in Washington D.C. It has also offered travel programs for individuals and groups in the U.S., booking flights and making land arrangements in Cuba depending on the regulations in place at different periods throughout the years.
Charter flights from New York and Miami to different Cuban cities were also organized by the agency directly during certain periods. In February 2017, when regular airlines such as American and Delta consolidated flights with fixed itineraries to different Cuban cities, Marazul left the Charter business and continued selling tickets on regular airline flights.
Throughout its 45 years, the agency has adapted to dramatic changes in regulations, requirements, and conditions for travel to Cuba. Considering that Marazul has operated during eight U.S. administrations (from Carter to Biden) as well as numerous changes in Cuba and the socialist world, it is difficult to list all the stages the company has gone through. Changes in Cuba travel regulations and conditions have always been marked by instability. In fact, in terms of flexibility, many periods were characterized by regression rather than advancement.
In summary, after the Carter administration moved to allow travel, limitations returned during Reagan’s presidency. Travel restrictions were reinstated in 1982, although some categories were left open that were used to send groups of U.S. residents to Cuba. Cuban Americans also continued to make family visits.
Also, that year it became illegal to charter weekly flights to Havana, some of which Marazul had been running from Stewart International Airport, located 70 miles north of New York City. There were six such flights, the first from New York since the break in diplomatic relations in 1961.
The Reagan administration, agitated by the enemies of communication with Cuba, went to extreme measures to disturb travel and create fear. In 1985, during a period where specific licenses for travel to Cuba were not required, the Department of the Treasury subpoenaed Marazul to supply the names of customers who had traveled to Cuba. The agency refused. With the help of the Center for Constitutional Rights, the National Lawyers Guild, and the Conference of Black Lawyers, the agency fought the measure in court and won.
Relations between the United States and Cuba grew ever more tense. Reagan’s close relationship with the Cuban American National Foundation (CANF), a Miami-based organization whose members flaunt wealth and influence, drove several changes in Cuba trips, remittances and merchandise shipments; it also fostered confrontations on the island. In May 1985, the U.S. launched Radio Martí, a radio station whose broadcasts targeted the island. CANF heavily influenced the station’s programming. The Caribbean nation blocked the broadcasts, but the fact that they violated the country’s sovereignty enraged the Cuban government.
In reaction to Radio Martí, the government dramatically cut-off travel by Cuban Americans. There were no family visits for several months, until quotas were established in 1986. Considering the high demand for family travel, the quotas created an issue of speculation in prices.
Francisco Aruca and Marazul had proven their efficiency and honesty in organizing these trips, so the Cuban authorities granted the agency control of the quota of persons traveling to visit their family. The agency distributed the quota at stable prices—approximately $425 per person, all-inclusive, with roundtrip air from Miami to Havana in chartered flights—and set up controls to prevent speculation.
In the beginning, the quota was approximately 45 passengers per week. It was gradually increased during the first months; in addition, Cuba began to grant entry permits for humanitarian reasons such as family illness or death. On-demand family travel reopened after a few months though different travel agencies.
As for U.S. travelers, from 1982 to 2003, the Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) was swamped with requests for travel licenses from universities, high schools, professional and cultural organizations, religious groups and institutions, and many individuals. Hundreds of institutions and thousands of individuals received such licenses and organized their trips.
During this period Marazul offered guidance on license requirements and provided travel arrangements as well as excellent programs under the direction of Bob Guild, a Cuba travel expert for over 40 years.
In Miami, Francisco Aruca created a radio program for the Cuban American community called Ayer en Miami, un adiós a la impunidad (Yesterday in Miami: A Goodbye to Impunity), sponsored by Marazul. It was broadcast from Monday to Friday for one or two hours, depending on what was happening at the time.
The program, which had great impact on the community, was aired from the beginning of the 1990’s to shortly before the death of its director in March 2013. Besides promoting communication with Cuba, family reunification, and an end to the embargo, Aruca analyzed the local and national political situation in the U.S., where he resided, as well as current situations on the island. It was no coincidence that he was attacked and threatened by the so-called leaders of the Cuban American community in the media and in local politics for daring to challenge their opinions.
Progreso Semanal/Weekly, a bilingual digital magazine, was launched in 2001 by Francisco Aruca, Álvaro Fernández, and other collaborators. The publication, which was also sponsored by Marazul, continues to be published weekly under the direction of Álvaro Fernández.
Throughout the years, Marazul has also supported the U.S. movement of solidarity with Cuba and against the blockade.
