1994
The Rafter Crisis
Tens of thousands of Cubans take to the sea on makeshift rafts, reshaping U.S. migration policy toward the island.
In the summer of 1994, amid the desperation of the Special Period, tens of thousands of Cubans launched themselves into the Florida Straits on homemade rafts and inner tubes. They became known as balseros — rafters.
A dangerous crossing
The ninety-mile crossing was perilous: many never made it, lost to the sea. The crisis began after protests in Havana led the government to again loosen restrictions on leaving, triggering a mass departure.
A policy turning point
The crisis led the U.S. to revise its approach, eventually producing the "wet foot, dry foot" policy: Cubans who reached U.S. soil could stay, while those intercepted at sea were returned. It governed Cuban migration for the next two decades until its repeal in 2017.
Why it matters
The balsero crisis is one of the most haunting images of the exile story — ordinary people risking everything for freedom — and it reshaped the legal framework that defined Cuban migration for a generation.