Cuba's Mariel boatlift

Cuba's Mariel boatlift

In April 1980, thousands of Cubans tried to escape the country by claiming asylum at the Peruvian embassy in Havana.

In response, Cuban President Fidel Castro opened the port of Mariel to anyone who wanted to leave, including criminals. From April until October more than 100,000 Cubans left for the US. Mirta Ojito was one of them. She spoke to Simon Watts in 2011.

Eye-witness accounts brought to life by archive. Witness History is for those fascinated by the past. We take you to the events that have shaped our world through the eyes of the people who were there. For nine minutes every day, we take you back in time and all over the world, to examine wars, coups, scientific discoveries, cultural moments and much more. Recent episodes explore everything from the death of Adolf Hitler, the first spacewalk and the making of the movie Jaws, to celebrity tortoise Lonesome George, the Kobe earthquake and the invention of superglue. We look at the lives of some of the most famous leaders, artists, scientists and personalities in history, including: Eva Peron – Argentina’s Evita; President Ronald Reagan and his famous ‘tear down this wall’ speech; Thomas Keneally on why he wrote Schindler’s List; and Jacques Derrida, France’s ‘rock star’ philosopher. You can learn all about fascinating and surprising stories, such as the civil rights swimming protest; the disastrous D-Day rehearsal; and the death of one of the world’s oldest languages.

(Photo: Cuban refugees in 1980. Credit: Bettmann/Contributor via Getty Images)

Episoder(2000)

East Germany's coffee from Vietnam

East Germany's coffee from Vietnam

In the 1980s, a thirst for caffeine caused an unusual global collaboration.Coffee-loving East Germans were left without after a crop failure in the world’s biggest exporter of the drink, Brazil.So the...

7 Mai 202410min

Friends: The making of a smash hit

Friends: The making of a smash hit

When a new show called Friends hit American TV screens in September 1994, it made household names of its cast.Over 10 series, it charted the lives of six young New Yorkers, through marriages, divorces...

6 Mai 20248min

The Channel Tunnel breakthrough

The Channel Tunnel breakthrough

Thirty years on from the opening of the Channel Tunnel between Britain and France, we look at the moment the two halves of the tunnel were connected in 1990.Graham Fagg was the man who made the breakt...

3 Mai 20249min

Ukraine's 'museum of corruption'

Ukraine's 'museum of corruption'

In February 2014, Ukraine’s ousted president, Viktor Yanukovych fled the country.His estate was abandoned by security guards, so for the first time ordinary people got to see inside Mezhyhirya, the ex...

2 Mai 202410min

How to win friends and influence people

How to win friends and influence people

In 1936, Dale Carnegie wrote one of the world’s most popular self help books - How to Win Friends and Influence People.The idea was suggested by a book editor who had attended one of Dale’s public spe...

1 Mai 202410min

How the Milgram 'obedience' experiment shocked the world

How the Milgram 'obedience' experiment shocked the world

In 1961, the American psychologist Stanley Milgram began a series of controversial experiments on ‘obedience to authority’.His study aimed to show how ordinary people could be capable of committing ev...

30 Apr 20249min

Finding the victims of Stroessner's Paraguay

Finding the victims of Stroessner's Paraguay

It’s 70 years since General Alfredo Stroessner seized power in Paraguay in a military coup. Stroessner remained in power for almost 35 years, before being toppled in 1989.More than 450 people were mur...

29 Apr 20249min

Oliver Tambo returns to South Africa from exile

Oliver Tambo returns to South Africa from exile

On 13 December 1990, the anti-apartheid politician Oliver Tambo returned to South Africa after 30 years in exile.As the president of the banned African National Congress (ANC), he had lived in Zambia ...

26 Apr 20249min

Populært innen Samfunn

rss-spartsklubben
giver-og-gjengen-vg
aftenpodden
konspirasjonspodden
aftenpodden-usa
alt-fortalt
rss-nesten-hele-uka-med-lepperod
popradet
rss-henlagt-andy-larsgaard
lydartikler-fra-aftenposten
wolfgang-wee-uncut
grenselos
fladseth
frokostshowet-pa-p5
rss-dannet-uten-piano
min-barneoppdragelse
rss-dette-ma-aldri-skje-igjen
rss-frekvens-med-anine-olsen
synnve-og-vanessa
den-politiske-situasjonen