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)

Avsnitt(2000)

The world's longest kiss

The world's longest kiss

In 2013, Guinness World Records deactivated the record for the longest kiss after 15 years, saying it had become too dangerous and some of the rules conflicted with their current updated policies. It ...

17 Feb 202510min

Eva Peron: Argentina’s Evita

Eva Peron: Argentina’s Evita

Eva Peron – otherwise known as Evita - became an icon in 1940s Argentina, famous for her passionate speeches and populist rhetoric. Born into poverty, she moved to Buenos Aries at the age of 15 to bec...

14 Feb 202510min

Paul Keating's Redfern speech

Paul Keating's Redfern speech

On 10 December 1992, Australia’s Prime Minister, Paul Keating, addressed a crowd in a Sydney suburb called Redfern, to mark the UN’s International Year of the World’s Indigenous People. What started a...

13 Feb 20259min

Mary Fisher's 'A Whisper of Aids' speech

Mary Fisher's 'A Whisper of Aids' speech

When Mary Fisher was diagnosed with HIV in 1991 she did not represent the typical stereotype of someone HIV-positive. She was white, heterosexual and contracted the disease in marriage. She used her p...

12 Feb 202510min

Eisenhower's farewell address

Eisenhower's farewell address

In January 1961, US President Dwight Eisenhower ended his time in the White House with a farewell address regarded as one of the greatest speeches made by a US president. He warned Americans against t...

11 Feb 20259min

La Pasionaria: Heroine of the Spanish Civil War

La Pasionaria: Heroine of the Spanish Civil War

Dolores Ibárruri was nicknamed La Pasionaria for her fiery speeches to the anti-fascist forces during the Spanish civil war. The fighting had begun in July 1936. Troops, led by General Francisco Franc...

10 Feb 202510min

Heathers: The making of a cult classic

Heathers: The making of a cult classic

In 1989, a dark teen comedy exploring self-harm and suicide flopped at cinemas.Heathers would have to wait years before achieving cult status through home video tape releases.Its stark portrayal of te...

7 Feb 20259min

The first global case of coral bleaching

The first global case of coral bleaching

In 1998, a mysterious phenomenon turned many of the world’s most colourful coral reefs deathly white.It was the first recorded global coral bleaching event in history, and ecologists blamed it on risi...

6 Feb 202510min

Populärt inom Samhälle & Kultur

podme-dokumentar
badfluence
p3-dokumentar
en-mork-historia
mardromsgasten
aftonbladet-krim
gynning-berg
creepypodden-med-jack-werner
skaringer-nessvold
nemo-moter-en-van
killradet
flashback-forever
hor-har
kod-katastrof
aftonbladet-daily
p3-historia
spar
svenska-fall
vad-blir-det-for-mord
rattsfallen