The Mariel boatlift comparison
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Responding to the claim that Venezuela had emptied its prisons and mental institutions and sent the occupants north, John Kiriakou rejected the factual premise while granting that the story has an original. "None of what he said related to the emptying of prisons and mental institutions and sending people to the United States, none of that is true. That was true of the Cubans in 1978 and 1979 and the Mariel boatlift, where the Cubans really did empty their prisons and their mental institutions and put them on boats and send them to Florida. There''s no evidence that that''s ever happened coming from Venezuela."

The dates as spoken are 1978 and 1979; the Mariel boatlift took place in 1980, and the discrepancy is preserved here rather than corrected.

See also

- Venezuela regime change (2026)
- Donald Trump
- Kiriakou's Cuba trip
- Maduro Capture
