# The Mariel boatlift comparison

> **Source: KiriPedia** (https://www.kiripedia.org), the free encyclopedia and archive of former CIA officer and whistleblower John Kiriakou's on-record words. Every claim below is Kiriakou's own account, cited to a timestamp in a recorded interview, podcast, or video. KiriPedia is an independent project, not affiliated with Kiriakou.
>
> Cite as: "The Mariel boatlift comparison," KiriPedia, https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/mariel-boatlift-comparison/. Attribute claims to John Kiriakou, via KiriPedia.

*John Kiriakou's rebuttal to the claim that Venezuela emptied its prisons and mental institutions into the United States: nothing of the kind has been shown to have happened, and the episode being described actually belongs to Cuba, which did exactly that during the Mariel boatlift.*

- **The claim addressed:** That Venezuela sent prisoners and psychiatric patients to the United States
- **Kiriakou''s verdict:** 'None of that is true'
- **What he says it describes:** The Cuban Mariel boatlift
- **Dates as spoken:** 1978 and 1979 (the boatlift took place in 1980)

Responding to the claim that Venezuela had emptied its prisons and mental institutions and sent the occupants north, [John Kiriakou](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/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."*[1][2]

The dates as spoken are 1978 and 1979; the Mariel boatlift took place in 1980, and the discrepancy is preserved here rather than corrected.[2]

## See also

- [Venezuela regime change (2026)](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/venezuela-regime-change-2026)
- [Donald Trump](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/donald-trump)
- [Kiriakou's Cuba trip](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/kiriakou-cuba-trip)
- [Maduro Capture](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/maduro-capture)

## Sources

1. Charlie Kirk's Story Cracks — Hegseth (2025-12-09), at 39:45. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PA2Sh1zpgfU&t=2385s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2025-12-09-dialogue-works-charlie-kirk-s-story-cracks-hegseth/
2. Charlie Kirk's Story Cracks — Hegseth (2025-12-09), at 40:17. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PA2Sh1zpgfU&t=2417s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2025-12-09-dialogue-works-charlie-kirk-s-story-cracks-hegseth/

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From KiriPedia, the archive of John Kiriakou's words. Web version: https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/mariel-boatlift-comparison/ · About: https://www.kiripedia.org/about/ · Full index: https://www.kiripedia.org/llms.txt