Bienvenidos

MIAMI--About 125,000 Cubans who fled their homeland in the 1980 "freedom flotilla" boatlift can apply for U.S. residency beginning today, and officials say they may eventually bring in more than 300,000 relatives who were left behind.

The refugees and their families could change the face of culture and politics in southern Florida, where most are expected to settle.

"A vast majority of the people want to bring relatives from Cuba," said Juan Clark, a sociology professor at Miami-Dade Community college who last spring surveyed $14 randomly selected refugees here.

The Cubans came to Florida during the boatlift from the port of Mariel from April 15 to Oct. 15, 1980, after Cuban President Fidel Castro expressed his indifference to their leaving. They have since lived in a legal limbo, unable to bring their relatives here.