* 1980 – Matthew Carey, American actor

* 1980 – Tommi Evilä, Finnish long jumper

* 1980 – Tanja Poutiainen, Finnish ski racer

* 1980 – Samuel Doe takes control of Liberia in a coup d ' état, ending over 130 years of minority Americo-Liberian rule over the country.

* 1980 – Terry Fox begins his " Marathon of Hope " at St. John's, Newfoundland.

* 1980 – Brian McFadden, Irish singer-songwriter ( Westlife )

* 1980 – Erik Mongrain, Canadian composer and guitarist

* 1980 – Accession of Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands.

* 1980 – Jeroen Verhoeven, Dutch footballer

* 1980 – Luis Scola, Argentinean basketball player

* 1912 – Gloria Guinness, Mexican writer and editor ( d. 1980 )

* 1980 – Neha Dhupia, Indian model and actress

* 1980 – Kyle Lowder, American actor

* 1907 – László Heller, Hungarian engineer ( d. 1980 )

* 1980 – Danny Collins, Welsh footballer

* 1980 – Monique Ganderton, Canadian actress and stunt-woman

* 1980 – András Horváth, Hungarian footballer

* 1980 – Charles McCarthy, American mixed martial artist

* 1980 – Wilber Pan, American-Taiwanese singer, producer, and actor

* 1980 – Seneca Wallace, American football player

* 1896 – Erich Hückel, German physicist ( d. 1980 )

* 1896 – Jean Piaget, Swiss psychologist ( d. 1980 )

* 1980 – Texas Battle, American actor

* 1980 – Nuria Cabanillas, Canadian-Spanish gymnast

* 1980 – Charlie David, Canadian actor

* 1904 – Alejo Carpentier, Cuban writer ( d. 1980 )

* December 26 – Alejo Carpentier, Cuban writer ( d. 1980 )

Alejo Carpentier y Valmont ( December 26, 1904 – April 24, 1980 ) was a Cuban novelist, essayist, and musicologist who greatly influenced Latin American literature during its famous " boom " period.

* December 26-Alejo Carpentier, musicologist ( d. 1980 )

* December 26-Alejo Carpentier, Cuban novelist ( died 1980 )

Carpentier died in Paris in 1980 and was buried in Havana's Colon Cemetery with other Cuban political and artistic luminaries.

However, his term included an unpopular motor vehicle tax and citizens ' anger over the escape of Cuban refugees ( from the Mariel boatlift ) detained in Fort Chaffee in 1980.

* 1980 – Soyuz 38 carries 2 cosmonauts ( including 1 Cuban ) to Salyut 6 space station.

In 1980 the Mariel boatlift brought thousands of Cuban refugees to the United States.

" Several waves of Cuban exiles, starting after The Cuban Revolution in 1959 and continuing through to the Freedom Flights from 1965 – 1973, the Mariel Boatlift in 1980, and the Balseros or boat people of the late 1990s, created what at least one expert has considered the most economically successful immigrant enclave in U. S. history as Hialeah is the only American industrial city that continues to grow.

* Cuban / Haitian entrants under section 501 ( e ) of the Refugee Education Assistance Act of 1980.

* From 1970 to 1980, there was a dramatic population increase of Other Race in the census, reflecting the addition of a question on Hispanic origin to the 100-percent questionnaire, an increased propensity for Hispanics to NOT identify themselves as White, and a change in editing procedures to accept reports of " Other race " for respondents who wrote in Hispanic entries such as Mexican, Cuban, or Puerto Rican.

After 1970, Cuban composers such as Leo Brouwer, Jesús Ortega, Carlos Fariñas and Sergio Vitier began also creating electroacoustic pieces ; and in the 1980 ’ s a group of composers that included: Edesio Alejandro, Fernando ( Archi ) Rodríguez Alpízar, Marietta Véulens, Mirtha de la Torre, Miguel Bonachea and Julio Roloff, started receiving instruction and working at the ICAP Electroacoustic Studio.

* Poyo, Gerald E. Cuban Catholics in the United States, 1960 – 1980: Exile and Integration ( Notre Dame: Notre Dame University Press, 2007 ).

Eight international Nobel Prize winners have written and sent a document to the U. S. Attorney General calling for freedom for the Cuban Five, signed by Zhores Alferov ( Nobel Prize for Physics, 2000 ), Desmond Tutu ( Nobel Peace Prize, 1984 ), Nadine Gordimer ( Nobel Prize in Literature, 1991 ), Rigoberta Menchú ( Nobel Peace Prize, 1992 ), Adolfo Pérez Esquivel ( Nobel Peace Prize, 1980 ), Wole Soyinka ( Nobel Prize in Literature, 1986 ), José Saramago ( Nobel Prize in Literature, 1996 ), Günter Grass ( Nobel Prize in Literature, 1999 ).

Comparing this information throughout different time periods in Cuban life, in “ 1960 it was 1 divorce per 1000 people, 3 per 1000 people in the 1980 ’ s, 3. 5 per 1000 people in 1990, 4. 1 per 1000 people in 1991, 5. 1 per 1000 people in 1992 .”.

* January 14, 1980: A large explosion significantly damages the Cuban consulate in Montreal.

* Pedro Rodríguez ( water polo ), Cuban water polo player who played Water polo at the 1980 Summer Olympics

Most of the then-former Naval Station became an annex ( Truman Annex ) to the remaining Naval Air Station Key West and served as the landing point for many during the 1980 Mariel boatlift of Cuban refugees.

Rosie Ruiz Vivas ( born 1953, Havana, Cuba ) is a Cuban American who achieved notoriety when she was declared the winner in the female category for the 84th Boston Marathon in 1980, only to have her title stripped after it was discovered that she had not run the entire course.

Celia Sánchez Manduley ( May 9, 1920 – January 11, 1980 ) was a participant of the Cuban Revolution and a close friend, and rumored lover of Fidel Castro.

In early 1980, nearly 300 Cuban medical technicians, including more than 100 physicians, supported local efforts to resolve public health problems.

In modern times, the term refers to the large exodus of Cubans to the United States since the 1959 Cuban Revolution and in particular the wave of ( now ) Cuban American refugees to the U. S. during the years 1960 and 1980.