On April 20, 1980, Cuban President Fidel Castro declared the small port of Mariel, Cuba, to be an "open" port, allowing any Cuban who wished to emigrate to leave through Mariel, stating what became know as the Mariel Boatlift. Between April and October, 1980, some 125,000 Cuban refugees and asylum seekers made the crossing of the Strait of Florida, often in unsafe and overloaded vessels. The U.S. Coast Guard met the boatlift with it's largest peacetime operation up to that date, interdicting vessels and providing search and rescue services.