The Mariel boatlift was a mass emigration of Cubans to the United States that lasted from 15 April to 31 October 1980. After 10,000 Cubans tried to gain asylum by taking refuge on the grounds of the Peruvian embassy, Cuban leader Fidel Castro said that those people did not possess the revolutionary spirit, and that they were neither wanted nor needed in Cuba. He opened the port at Mariel harbor so that Cubans in Cuba could rejoin their relatives in exile in Miami, Florida, but the government also forced the emigrants to take with them the dregs from Cuba's prison and mental health institutions. Of the 125,000 people who arrived in Miami during the boatlift, it is estimated that 25,000 had criminal records. The boatlift ended by mutual agreement between the two governments in October 1980.