Nearly 260,000 Cubans fled to United States through organized Freedom Flights program

Between 1965 and 1973, around 260,000 Cubans left their country for the United States on organised flights known as the Freedom Flights. The programme began after Cuban leader Fidel Castro announced that people with relatives in the US could leave. At first, some departed by boat from the port of Camarioca, but the two governments soon agreed on a safer, more orderly system. Twice a day, planes flew from Varadero Airport to Miami, carrying between 3,000 and 4,000 passengers every month. Many left because of economic hardship and the loss of basic freedoms, particularly after Castro shut down around 55,000 small businesses in 1968. Unlike earlier Cuban exiles, these refugees were mostly working and middle-class people. Castro ended the flights without warning in 1973.