DANGEROUS MARIELITOS: WISCONSIN NEWSPAPERS AND THE PROLIFERATION OF A NEGATIVE REPRESENTATION.

This article analyses the local roots of the criminalised characterisation of Cuban refugees who resided in a Wisconsin detention centre during and after the so-called Mariel Exodus or Boatlift in 1980. Acknowledging the role of national media in espousing a violent and chaotic image of the Mariel Boatlift and its participants, who became known as 'Marielitos'; it examines how local Wisconsin newspapers gravitated towards this representation, compounding its negative influence. The article then explains how the economic recession and rising concerns about deviant sexuality morphed media accounts of Cuban refugee struggles and uncovers narratives not captured by Marielito criminality. By doing so, the article complicates the understandings of refugee identities and experiences. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]