mariel boatlift

Connor Towne O’Neill is the producer of White Lies — the NPR podcast documentary which became a Pulitzer Prize Finalist for its work reinvestigating the unsolved murder of civil rights activist, Rev. James Reeb. Its most recent season puts fresh eyes on the 1991 Talladega Prison Riot. Connor joins us to discuss the art of investigative storytelling, the “entry fiction” doctrine, and why stories that have been long thought dead are worth revisiting decades later. 

A special thanks to our sound engineer, Sarah Nguyen.

Music by Ryan Bollenbach and covert art by Kearstyn Boucher.

Nearly 43 years ago, a mass immigration of Cubans travelled from Mariel Harbor near Havana to the United States, known as the Mariel Boatlift. 

The exodus, which happened over several months, saw more than 125,000 Cubans make the journey across the Florida Straits. 

One of those people was a six-year-old girl, Janet Diaz-Bonilla, who travelled with her parents towards a new life. But it was a journey that would impact not only Janet's life, but also, the fabric of her adopted homeland. 

While many have looked back on these journeys to freedom through art writing, Janet, a writer herself, decided to tell her story through liquid, releasing La Marielita to rum at the end of last year. 

To find out more, we talked to Janet about perception, legacy, and how liquid can really tell stories in a very new way.