Mariel is a municipality and town in the Artemisa Province of Cuba. It is located approximately west of the city of Havana. Geography The town is situated on the south-east side of the Mariel Bay. The villages of La Boca, Henequen, Mojica, Quiebra Hacha, and Cabañas are the major settlements composing the municipality of Mariel. History Agustín Parlá Orduña, born in Key West on October 11, 1887, of Cuban parents exiled during the struggle for Cuban's independence, was the first man to fly over the sea from Key West, Florida to El Mariel, Cuba, on May 19, 1913. The port of Mariel is the nearest port to the United States. In 1980, some 125,000 Cubans left Mariel and went to the United States in what is known as the Mariel boatlift. While many reached the US, several died while traveling through the ocean. Those involved became known as "Marielitos". Demographics In 2004, the municipality of Mariel had a population of 42,504. With a total area of , it has a population density of . Transport Overview On the east side of the bay are a port, cement works and a power station, which contribute to very high levels of environmental contamination. On the west side of the bay is a former submarine base, later designated as a free trade zone. New Port of Mariel Development Project Following an agreement reached in 2009 between the governments of Brazil and Cuba, the Brazilian engineering firm Grupo Odebrecht built a new port, including a major container terminal, in partnership with the Cuban company "Zona de Desarrollo Integral de Mariel", a subsidiary of the Cuban military controlled Almacenes Universal S.A. This project received an agreement from the Brazilian government to subsidize it up to US$800 million, out of which $300 million would have been already appropriated. The port has been dredged to , enabling it to be used by Super-Panamax vessels. Various Cuban and international media (such as Reuters) report the future Port of Mariel would be designed to have an initial of berth length, enabling it to receive simultaneously two large ocean vessels. Plans through 2022 call for Mariel to house logistics facilities for offshore oil exploration and development, a new container terminal, general cargo, bulk and refrigerated handling and storage facilities as well as a Special Economic Development Zone for light manufacturing and storage. The new Mariel Port can handle deeper vessels