Interviewer:
Nearly 43 years ago, a mass immigration of Cubans travelled from Mariel Harbor near Havana to the United States, known as the Mariel boat Lift.
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 Jeanette's life, but also the fabric of her adopted homeland.
While many have looked back on these journeys to freedom through art writing, Janet, who is a writer herself, decided to tell her story through liquid, releasing La Marielita 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.
Thank you for joining us, Janet.
Janet Diaz-Bonilla:
Thank you for having me. Thank you very much.
Interviewer:
Now tell us a little bit about your family's life in Cuba before Castro.
Janet Diaz-Bonilla:
So, before Castro, I, I don't, I, I wasn't born yet, but I can tell you from what I have been told from my father and, and my grandfather, my family in general, is it was a very beautiful life before Castro. My grandfather had three markets and, you know, he was trying to build a legacy for his family and it was a, a very happy life. And after Castro then, obviously everything changed. My father had a great upbringing and they were thriving. There were thriving families, not just mine obviously, but many, many families in Cuba were thriving. Cuba was thriving in general.
Interviewer:
But Castro was stripping people of their businesses.
Janet Diaz-Bonilla:
After December 31st, 1958, everything completely changed. And by 1962, no family in Cuba had any business that belonged to them. So my, my grandfather included in, in that. So one day somebody walked into his, to his markets and said, you know, give me the keys just like that. Give me the keys cuz this is no longer yours. So, and it's so hard for, I think for other cultures to grasp what that is because it's so unbelievable that you've built this, you know, from the ground up your whole adult life. And, you know, one day somebody from the government walks in and says, Hey, give me the keys because this, that you've built your entire life no longer belongs to you and now belongs to the government. And so you can work here as like a manager, but this is not yours anymore. This belongs to the government. This belongs to Casper.
Interviewer:
That must have been frightening and extraordinary for your family.
Janet Diaz-Bonilla:
It's extraordinarily frustrating and, and, and scary. Yes. But very, very, very frustrating. And my grandfather had three heart attacks. I'm imagining one per business that was stripped away from him. And, and again, I, I think that unless you are there and you live through that moment, you can't really grasp the frustration and the agony that that comes with. And it's so unbelievable, I think too, for a lot of, a lot of people of, of, of other cultures to, to understand why Cubans are so adamant about being against this regiment that is in Cuba. And a lot of us are still very angry.
Imagine at what has happened. It wasn't just the, the communism, the stripping away of businesses, but also the ripping apart of families. Yeah. Because a lot of families were divided on this subject and, and a lot of families left and left families behind. And, and you know, myself being in that situation, so, so much transpired because of Castro, so much to hurt so much damage, so much pain. So in many different facets, not just in the business sector. J= In general.
Interviewer:
Now, as I mentioned in the intro, you were six at the time when your family was able to actually leave. Yes. How much do you remember of the boat lift?
Janet Diaz-Bonilla:
I remember a great deal. My father was a political prisoner. He was about to graduate from dentistry school when he boarded a, a raft with a, with another doctor and tried to leave the island. He was already married to my mother, actually. And his, his plan was to come here, finish school, and then bring her over. And that didn't happen. They caught them and they were, they were put in prison for originally eight years of which they served three Right. With a conditional release that he would then finish his semester and then work for the government. And what the government does to doctors and dentists and, and and so on, is that they send them on missions to other countries and they charge an arm and a leg for these people. Right. And then, and then they, they pay these, these doctors and these dentists, nothing.
You know, absolutely nothing like may, you know, $20 a month. It's just horrible. So when my father was released, he said, I'm not gonna work for the government. And then they stripped him of his, of everything. They stripped him about his credit, say it's like he never went to school. Yeah. So when Jimmy Carter allowed the, the Cubans to come into the country, it was originally 3,500 political prisoners. And it ended up being, like you said, 125,000 plus people because he opened the floodgates to everything. So that evening, it was like about midnight and, and, and I was still up, which was obviously rare for a six year old girl. But they kept me up, I think, cuz they knew that that night they were gonna come get us. And so I remember them banging on the door and I, and I was I was sewing a little doll with my grandmother.
I remember that. And there was a lot of running in the house and a lot of rushing. And obviously I was confused as to what the heck is going on. Right. And, but I do remember a lot of running and a lot of rushing and, and throwing in, in bags and Yeah. And, you know, clothes, I guess that were never allowed on the boat anyway, so it was like for nothing. So, and I remember running on the streets and people calling us names because now, like I said, the country was very divided. There were people that were with castor and people that were obviously against it, that knew what was coming was bad. Yeah. And so we were seen as traders and, and they threw eggs at us and they called us horrible names and we, and then getting into a car, which then I, I realized it was a taxi.
And then we went to this kind of holding camp called In Mosquito, which is like a beach right. Where they held us all there until the morning. And then I remember a guard basically violating my mother in front of me. And I remember that because she started to cry while this guard was just checking her to see if she had anything hidden Yeah. In her body, like jewelry or anything. And my father was holding my hand very tight, and it was a woman, female guard. It wasn't a male. But I think that at that moment, we, we all knew what was happening. And I remember basically I just, I urinated on myself. I was, I just looked from looking at her and, and agony in her face. I, I felt it. And I remember that moment. And anyway, I still had my little doll with me Right.
That my grandmother had given me. The morning after, when they were loading us on boats, I was walking with my parents toward, toward our assigned vessel. And the guard said, oh, the, the little doll can't go. And my father thought that he was referring to me. Right. So he says to the guard, yeah, what do you mean this is my daughter? How can she not, you know, of course she's gonna go. And he said, no, I'm not talking about your daughter. I'm talking about that little doll. Right. That little cloth doll. Anyway, I, I, he says, you know, it's just a doll. And I, and I'm looking around and I'm thinking, they're gonna take this little doll. The only thing I have Yeah. From my grandmother, the only thing I have from my country that they're gonna take it away from me is what I was thinking. I, I, because I was getting agitated and upset. And, and so my father slowly takes the doll away from me, and I start screaming. He carries me, he gives the, the doll to the guard. And as I'm walking into the, toward the vessel, I'm staring at this guard crying and screaming. And he threw the doll on the floor and stepped on it. That's who these people are. So that's why Cubans are so angry and frustrated.
Interviewer:
So you weren't really allowed to take anything with you at all.
Janet Diaz-Bonilla:
Not the clothes that they had thrown in a bag. Nothing.
Interviewer:
So you arrived in the US with literally nothing
Janet Diaz-Bonilla:
With the clothes on our backs.
Interviewer:
Wow. That must have been incredibly hard for your parents.
Janet Diaz-Bonilla:
Yes. Scary.
Interviewer:
You talk about the boatlift being associated with the narrative that does not wholly represent the community in its entirety. What do you mean by that?
Janet Diaz-Bonilla:
So, like I told you, like I said before, my father happened to be a political prisoner, and that's why he was in, in prison. But like in any country, there are delinquent everywhere. And Cuba is obviously, you know, not special in, in that sense. We, we all have, you know, people from, from every walk of life. And when the Mario boat lift happened, Fidel literally opened the floodgates to all the prisons, to he sent over to Miami, everything that he deemed not important or not good for him to have in his country. So that's what he sent over here.
Interviewer:
Right. So a combination of actual criminals as well as dissidents.
Janet Diaz-Bonilla:
Yes. And so the political prisoners got lost in that mix. Right. And so in 1980, when we arrived to Key West, which by the way, I arrived to Key West, but I didn't stay in Miami. I was then, my family and I were put on a bus and taken to Arkansas to an, an army base where we spent 54 days. Okay. Because at that point, the US government knew that Castro had sent over here delinquent that had been in jail for murder and rape and drugs and everything else. Right. So I w what I mean by that line, like you ask, is there's this movie called Scarface. I don't know if you've ever heard of it. Oh, yeah, yeah. There's a Right with Pacino and and he embodies this character, this fictitious character named Tony Montana. And so this, this fictitious character became the spokesperson for our exodus in, in a way. And because of all the delinquency that came in through here in 1980 with the, with the boat lift, the narrative that stuck was that of Scarface and of the drugs and of the drug dealers and of the murderers.
Interviewer:
And which I imagine was happening in Miami already.
Janet Diaz-Bonilla:
It was already happening even before the Maria with the cocaine cowboys, which was in the late seventies. We weren't even here yet. But, you know, we got blamed for, for, for all of it. Right, right. So once we came here into Miami and we started, you know, our life, I became very aware of the, the prejudice against Rx that is even at such a young age. Right. It, it came very early when they went to enroll me at a school, a private, a private, a religious school. Yeah. And, and the director, she was Cuban told my family, I'm sorry, but I can't enroll her here because the other parents don't want their kids mixed in with the Mariel kids, which was the moniker that they gave us. Right. Yeah. And these were predominantly Cuban families. So it wasn't just other cultures that were discriminating us, it was our very own culture that was discriminating us. And that was, that was hurtful. That is hurtful to this day. It is hurtful.
Interviewer:
Is it still an issue these days?
Janet Diaz-Bonilla:
I think it is, honestly. I think that anytime that anyone hears, oh, you came in the Maria, there's a sort of like a step back for some reason, for, for for many reasons we are not like the exodus of the Pedro Pan children. Right. That came in in the late fifties. We are not the exodus of the freedom flights that were in the mid sixties because these were very prominent families. Right. That sustained the economy in Cuba that were leaving. We became sort of like the leftovers. So by then, communism had been around for more than 20 years. So that oppression had taken effect in the country. So of course, when there is that oppression and that kind of right socialist environment for so long, then it's gonna affect the personality and the character of, of the people the longer they stay there. No, of course.
Yeah. So the, the Peter Pan kids were from very prominent families before Castro took over when Cuba was still thriving. So this was a different class. The Freedom Flights exodus were also, you know, Cuba was still in the midst of this change from, you know, from Cuba before Castro to Cuba after Castro. And it was still the early sixties. So, you know, communism and this dictatorship hadn't really set in Yeah. Yet. Yeah. By the time that we left in 1980, it was in full blown effect. Yeah. So now you have a lot more criminals, a lot less prominent families, a lot more people struggling through this, you know, lack of, lack of everything to survive. So, so now that's what we're known of, known as like the Leftovers, you know, basically. And that's sort of how we were categorized. And I think to this day, they, they think that Marielle and a lot of people still think, oh, those people, because a lot of it has to do with this movie. It just sort of like, just embedded in people that this is a class of people that came through there, which is, which is not, not true.
Interviewer:
Yeah.
Janet Diaz-Bonilla:
Not, not a hundred percent factional. Anyway.
Interviewer:
Now, I mentioned also in the intro that you are a writer by trade. How did you go from about it to creating a liquid dedicated to it?
Janet Diaz-Bonilla:
I actually hadn't written anything about the Mario Boat Lift. I, I wanted to, for many years I wrote everything and anything other than my experience, I think it was too painful to go there. Okay. It wasn't just leaving my country, leaving my grandparents, and being held for 54 days in this modern day concentration camp that was for Chaffee, Arkansas. A lot of horrible things happened there. It was just a also the aftermath of once I arrived here and having to be alone all the time, my parents had two, three jobs each. Right. so it, it was very painful to write about it. But in 2019, I, I decided, okay, I'm, I'm gonna write this Mario story because I wanted to show another perspective, another side, a factual true side of what a family went through during the Mario Boat lift. Other than that perception of Scarface and that, you know, sort of fictitious perspective that they embedded in people.
So I started writing my, my screenplay basically about the Mario boat lift. And I, you know, I did many interviews with my dad, and I found out all these things about my, you know, my grandparents that I didn't necessarily know or maybe didn't remember. And one of those was, one of those things was that my grandfather, one of his markets called Casa Manolo, sold fine liquors and would import rum and whiskeys from all over the world before Castro obviously. Then Castro came in and took it all right. Flash forward, I finished the screenplay as finished as a screenplay can be. And I started to maybe toy with the idea of having it produced and what that would look like. And I spoke to several people and yeah, it just became sort of a monster of a thing to have it produced. And at some point I let it go and I set it aside.
But then during 2020 into 2021, I picked it up again and I started, you know, messing with it again. And then I said, you know, no one has ever done anything with this, with this exodus. No one has ever, you know, there's very little information about it. Aside from that movie, there's really not a lot written about the Marielle because it was such a, an embarrassment for Cubans really, and just for the community in general. So for me it was freedom. I will never be embarrassed of having come, you know, through the Marielle vote lift. Right. I will never be embarrassed that my father was a political prisoner. I am proud and honoured that he was against that horrible government. And it doesn't shame me. It never has. So I thought, what about if I trademarked this name La Marielita, which is the name of the screenplay, and I create a product and I show a different perspective to the story? Yeah. A different side of the story, A truthful side. When I was thinking of a product, I thought, what better product to honour my heritage than, than rum, which is what my grandfather would sell at his, at his store. So I, I think that he was trying to build a legacy. And for me, in many ways, this is sort of a continuation of what that would've been for him or an honour of him. Hmm. And also an honour of my freedom. So that's how the idea of creating a rum came, came about.
Interviewer:
Do you believe that stories can really be told through liquid?
Janet Diaz-Bonilla:
Yes, I do. I think from a micro perspective, I think when we're happy we drink and we share stories. When we are sad, we drink and we share stories. So we're essentially telling stories through liquid. Yeah. And, and the macro aspect of it, for me it is liquid is, in this case, alcohol or a liquor is a symbol of, of celebration. And for me it's a way to, to speak my truth and to tell a story of what this Exodus was and show a different perspective to honour my freedom to celebrate with this liquid, my freedom and the freedom of immigrants in general. Because I feel like La Marielita Rum doesn't need to be encapsulated just for Cubans. I feel like she is just such a symbol of La Marita is, is an immigrant, and she came to another country to better her life and, and to better herself and to better her family. And so that is the story that I'm telling through Liquid. So it doesn't need to just be encapsulated to, to my, to my community really. She is, she can be anyone.
Interviewer:
Now the label that you've used for this has been created by a claimed Cuban American artist. Humberto Benita, I believe he also left Cuba as a child.
Janet Diaz-Bonilla:
He did. He left Cuba very young. I can't recall how young he was, but I know that it was in the sixties. So he, he was quite young. And he is someone who has stayed true to his roots. He is an incredibly gentle, humble, and generous individual. Him and his wife Lisa. They are two of the most beautiful, wonderful, intelligent, brilliant people that I have ever met. And it is an honour for me to be associated with them. And when I was creating the blueprint of this rum and all the different pieces and what this would look like, there was never a doubt in my mind that I would at least approach 'em with the idea. I've known them for almost 20 years. If anybody was gonna embody what I wanted to show, there was no one else except for him. And he did.
Interviewer:
I believe there's particular significance to the label. Can you talk through some of the symbolism of the image?
Janet Diaz-Bonilla:
Yeah. So I told him what I wanted a woman on a boat and I wanted it to be at night. And I wanted to have a representation of our patron saint, which is our Lady of Charity la and there was rough seas and you know, so I, I told him things that I, that I would like to have depicted on, on this because it's an original piece. And so it's night because I came at night, it's rough seas because there was a storm and we were 17 hours at sea with the waves 20 foot and higher crashing into the boat. The outriggers broke. Many people fell overboard and drowned. We were in the center of the vessel. So, you know, we, we fared well, but it was overcrowded. There were 200 people on a 40 passenger boat. So anyway, her dress is yellow because that is the color of our patron saint is yellow on the little wooden boat. There's a bunch of books cuz I'm a writer. Right. And then this white mast, it envelopes the woman as a symbol of the Virgin Mary protecting the, the Mali on her journey.
Interviewer:
You've also enlisted the world renowned Cuban, Maestro Romero, Francisco, Jose Don Pancho Fer Perez. How did that come about?
Janet Diaz-Bonilla:
So that was an unexpected gift to be perfectly honest. We arrived at our distillery at C L N I I, I'm making that choice. My husband is from Nicaragua. He has family and, and and friends there that sort of guided us. And we ended up in Panama Distillery called c l n. Mm-Hmm. C l n has had Don Pancho there since the, the mid nineties, which I had no idea. It was only after I, you know, we talked to c l n, you know, about what it would look like for them to produce our rum. That it was, you know, that it was then informed, we informed us that hey, this would be a great match for you. Yeah. For many reasons. But none greater than the fact that [inaudible] this Cuban phenomenon of a person is here. And which I didn't know. And so he's, he's in his eighties and he's sharp as a whip. Like he's sharper than me. He's amazing. So he's known as the godfather of rum and he's created many, many blends. And to have him have created my blend is just unbelievable because of the history that he has with rum in general. He's just, he's, he's brilliant.
Interviewer:
How long were you both in discussion about the rum and what aspects of its production did you discuss?
Janet Diaz-Bonilla:
So we were in discussions for almost a year, I would say. Okay. And it took about that long to, to come up with a profile that my husband and I were like, okay. And it wasn't just my husband and I, honestly, we had, we tormented and tortured many friends and family
Interviewer:

Janet Diaz-Bonilla:
Many times, at least 36 times to taste different profiles that, you know, we, we went back and forth for, for months on a profile. And I was very adamant about it being a very ultra premium rum. I was very adamant about no additives at all. Mm-Hmm. our rum ages in ex bourbon barrels. And because there are no additives, you really can taste that toastiness and, and that it's sort of like, it comes through as bourbon. Right. For many people, when they taste our rum, and it's 18 years, that's the youngest year, but there's also 19 and 21 inside the blend. Right. Which is why it is so incredibly smooth.
Interviewer:
Can you tell us a little bit about the flavours on the pallet and the finish?
Janet Diaz-Bonilla:
For me, it's toasty. I perceive a lot of orange blossom and vanilla and it exits very smoothly and it exits to me sort of like a burnt toffee and chocolate, cacao, taste.
Interviewer:
You are the first American Cuban woman to start a rebrand. That is an extraordinary journey.
Janet Diaz-Bonilla:
And it's, I know I've been, I've been interviewed by, by a few people. And, and they, it's a very, they doubt it all the time. Are you the first I'm like, go, go research, research , research it, look it up. So, because it's wild that this journey brought me to this moment where I am the first Cuban born woman owner of a rum brand. And I hope I'm not the last. But to have gone through all of that for this moment is really a testament of you just n you just never know what life has in store for you. Right. It is an extraordinary moment for me to have gone through all of that for and for my parents too, that sacrificed so much and that we left our country, we left our family. I grew up here alone. I left cousins, I left Aunt San uncles, I left my grandparents who were my heart. And then to have arrived at this moment, it's been wonderful, a wonderful experience.
Interviewer:
What is the reaction to the rum been in the Cuban American community?
Janet Diaz-Bonilla:
So we launched about two and a half months ago, and there has been an incredibly positive reception amongst my, my community and, and many other cultures as well. It wasn't super easy to, to be like, what I tell my husband, we're like, perfume pedalers, you know, we're like, hi, do you wanna try some, hi, do you wanna try some, like, when you go to the mall and everyone has like, like this little yeah. Paper with perfume sprayed on it and they're like shoving it in, in your face. That's what we've become with the rum, you know, pedalers of, of rum. So it, it was, it wasn't easy, it wasn't easy to have the doors open, but there was one particular liquor store here in Miami, his name is Eddie, and he's the owner of Jenssen's Liquors and they have, I believe six locations. Yeah. And his father started this legacy for, for his family. Mm. And his father is just amazing. He was the first, he was the first to open the doors to, to Lak. I'm very grateful to him and and to his family.
Interviewer:
Now on the website, you've presented a number of reefs on classic cocktails that have particular meaning. Do you wanna take us through a few of them?
Janet Diaz-Bonilla:
Yeah. So my husband has created these drinks. He is not a mixologist, but during the pandemic we were just creating and mixing and making drinks. And so by the time that we trademarked the name La Marielita Rum and decided to make rum, I think a lot of that influence also was that we had been making drinks for like a year before that. Right. Yeah. So, so anyway, when our, our rum was finally done and we can, you know, mess around with art, our alcohol, then my husband went in and created these drinks. And so for instance, Larena is for my grandmother and that was the nickname that my grandfather had for her was Larena. And it was also the name of one of his markets. Larena. It was a bakery and a market. And there's Manolos Mojito Manolo was my grandfather's name. Right. his name was Jose Mano, but they call them Manolo.
And there is Flaco tie. That is my dad when he was very, very young, he was super, super skinny. And so that's Flaco in Spanish. Yeah. And so that's the, the Flaco tie, and then there's the little Mickey Storm. Little Mickie was the name of the vessel that brought me to Freedom. Okay. So Little Mickie was the name of our vessel and Storm, because there was a storm the night that we, that we came. Right. Old fashion. That's really delicious. You can make a really great old fashion with our rum because it does have such a, such a bourbon aspect to it.
Interviewer:
Having released this first expression, where does the brand go from here?
Janet Diaz-Bonilla:
It's a very good question. We're just still learning and we're, and we're trying to grow this particular expression and we're trying to get the name out then later, who knows, right. Maybe we'll come out with another expression or, or maybe I'll occur, who knows? But that's very much down the line. I think right now our main focus is to, to grow the brand, to associate ourselves with places that represent not just our community, but well respected places, places that can, that we can help each other grow and represent each other in a positive way, immigrants in general. And just to continue to open doors for our product.
Interviewer:
And at the moment, where is the Rum available?
Janet Diaz-Bonilla:
Florida and also it is offered in Total wine in California. And it is and from my website, we can we can distribute to to to many different states. We are in New York and New Jersey as well.
Interviewer:
What do you want people to take away from their experience with the rum?
Janet Diaz-Bonilla:
Gosh, so many things. Immigrants come here for the most part to work to make a better life for themselves, to open doors for themselves to make a better life for their children. And that a lot of little children suffer through immigration. And my story is not special. There are many Janets out there, many, many with probably even worse stories than mine. And so what I want them to take away is to understand that the Mario Boat Lift brought in many people of different walks of life and not just delinquent like Donny Moana in the Scarface movie. Mm-Hmm. So I wanna show a different perspective, first and foremost, and then just to, to, to enjoy an 18 year ultra premium rum. Yeah. How many things? But mostly just to celebrate with it, celebrate when, when they're happy. And just like I celebrate my freedom and I, and and honour my, my heritage and, and my community.
Interviewer:
All right, Jen, well look, thank you so much for taking the time to speak with us today. If people want more information, they can of course go to your website, which is La Marielita Rum litter.com, or connect with the brand on your socials.
Janet Diaz-Bonilla:
It's LA Marita Rome or Janet Diaz, bonier writer.
Interviewer:
Okay, Janet, look, thank you again. And we wish you every success with Rom.
Janet Diaz-Bonilla:
Thank you.