The Miami Herald.
Published Wednesday, November 21, 2001
Hope dims as search finds boat but no Cuban migrant survivors
Elaine de Valle, Jennifer Babson and Andres Viglucci.
aviglucci@herald.com
An intensive Coast Guard search for 30 Cubans missing at sea ominously
turned up an overturned speedboat southeast of Key West and, a few miles away, a
cooler and other floating debris, but no survivors on Tuesday.
Even as the Coast Guard said it would continue looking through the night and
into the morning today, the find was dismaying for several Miami relatives of
the missing.
They have been clinging to increasingly slender hopes since the search was
launched on Sunday, one day after their relatives left Cuba on a smuggler's
speedboat but failed to arrive in Florida.
"My hope died,'' said Katerín Arcia, lips trembling and eyes
downcast and weary from weeping, as she contemplated the possible fate of her
cousin Julio César Musibay, 33, who she believes was on the overdue boat.
"It's been too many hours.
"It's as if the sea swallowed them up.''
If confirmed, the toll would constitute the single deadliest smuggling
tragedy out of Cuba. The previous greatest loss of life of Cuban immigrants in
the Florida Straits occurred in December 1998, when a boat capsized off Elliott
Key, drowning 14 people.
Authorities said determining how many people might have been on this latest
ill-fated venture was difficult because few family members had contacted the
government. The U.S. attorney's office Tuesday night issued an appeal for family
members to come forward.
"Federal law enforcement is aggressively investigating. . . . We need
the community to help us,'' said Assistant U.S. Attorney Aloyma Sanchez.
According to Miami relatives, at least a dozen children may have been on the
boat, which they say left from the small town of Bahía Honda in
northwestern Cuba.
Two families there also endured an agonizing wait for news of loved ones
they believe were aboard the doomed speedboat -- Adriel Figueroa, 26, a
fisherman who left behind his wife and young daughter, and Eunice Carrasco Rodríguez,
24.
Asked by an Associated Press reporter whether he knew who organized the
voyage, Eunice's father, Leonardo Carrasco, said: "If I knew I would kill
him.''
Coast Guard officials could not say with certainty that the capsized boat,
located by a plane at 11:20 a.m. Tuesday, was the missing vessel. But it
appeared likely, spokesman Luis Diaz said.
"Our command center isn't 100 percent certain that this is the boat,
but we suspect that it is,'' Diaz said.
The capsized vessel matched the description provided by Miami relatives -- a
white hull, about 30 feet in length, with twin outboard engines.
At about 1 p.m., two Coast Guard cutters, two helicopters and another plane
arrived to assist in the search over a wide area around the overturned boat,
which was found 47 miles southeast of Key West.
Crews spotted two debris fields, one five miles north of the vessel and
another nine miles northeast. Diaz had no details on the first. Chillingly, the
second consisted of life jackets, tarps and a cooler. No bodies have been seen.
Rough seas complicated the effort, making it impossible for crews to right
the boat to search for confirming evidence, Diaz said. He did not know whether
any debris had been recovered.
Vessels and aircraft using radar and spotlights, and crews equipped with
night-vision goggles and heat-seeking scanners, were to continue the search
overnight, the Coast Guard said. A decision will be made today on whether to
suspend the search.
"We are continuing to search because we think there is still hope, but
eventually we will have to stop,'' Diaz said. "By morning, we will have
searched over 50,000 square miles.''
Other clandestine voyages out of Cuba have ended in tragedy as exiles
increasingly turn to professional smugglers, who often overload their boats.
Most trips take place during the relatively calm summer months, but they can
occur anytime seas are smooth. Two years ago, almost to the day, Cuban rafter
Elián González was rescued after the rickety boat carrying him,
his mother and 12 others sank.
"This has to stop,'' Diaz said. "I don't know how many innocent
children have to be lost at sea because of smuggling.''
Authorities said smuggling from Cuba had declined since the Sept. 11
terrorist attacks. But a federal agent who investigates migrant smuggling said
he anticipates an increase if fairly calm seas continue to prevail, especially
after Hurricane Michelle hit Cuba.
On Tuesday, a 29-foot boat launched from Biscayne Bay was intercepted by the
Florida Marine Patrol as it headed south into the Keys. Three Cuban Americans
were aboard the boat, which had extra fuel and twin outboard engines. They were
questioned by Border Patrol agents in Marathon, resulting in one man's detention
on immigration violations, the agent said.
Some Miami family members of the missing insist they had no contact with
smugglers. Lázaro Piedra said he learned from relatives in Cuba that his
sister, Ana Gloria Piedra, 28, her husband Roberto Lemus, 29, and their
10-year-old daughter Gracy had left on a boat. He held out hope they would be
found.
Maria Boza, however, said she feared her stepson, Jindrid Boza, 19, was gone
for good.
The one relative of the missing to acknowledge dealing with a smuggler said
he now regrets that he ever agreed to the trip.
Carlos Montané, 40, of Hialeah said he promised to pay smugglers
$16,000 to bring his ex-wife, Yaquelín Castro, and 8-year-old daughter
Claudia Montané Castro from Cuba. Both are among the missing.
"It's a living death for me,'' he said.
"I've done all this for her,'' he said of his daughter. "What do I
do now if she's gone? I can't live all my life with this guilt. I can't! I
can't!''
His former father-in-law said he had to take a gun away from Montané
after he became despondent.
"He was going to shoot himself,'' David Castro said. "I was
holding him down and trying to answer the cellular phone, and then the house
phone would ring. It was crazy. It was like that till 6 in the morning.''
Just 10 blocks away, at the Hialeah home of Arcia, a candle burned in front
of a statue of San Lázaro as the missing man's aunt, Consuelo Rangel,
prayed for him.
"We don't know if they're alive or dead. I can't keep on like this. It
drives you crazy. I just want to know,'' said Rangel, whose sister in Cuba was "desperate''
for news of her son.
"I keep thinking, 'God, let them be on a key. God, let us get a call
from Cuba to tell us that they have been jailed.' Because at least they would be
alive.''
Herald staff writer Jay Weaver contributed to this report.
Most Latins disapprove of Castro, survey says
Seven nations, 3 U.S. cities included in poll
By Nancy San Martin. nsanmartin@herald.com
The image of Fidel Castro held by most Latin Americans is largely negative,
according to a poll released Tuesday.
According to pollster Sergio Bendixen, who organized the survey, the results
demonstrate that Castro's base of support -- including "young idealists,''
among others -- has dwindled in size and strength throughout the region.
"A political person is measured by results, and after 42 years the
results are not there,'' said Carlos Saladrigas, president of Cuba Study Group,
the Miami-based organization that commissioned the opinion survey. "It's a
sea change in terms of public opinion, in terms of how Fidel Castro is seen,''
he added.
Earlier polls, however, show much the same results.
The finding comes days before this weekend's Ibero-American Summit in Peru,
a forum where Castro has often attracted the lion's share of the attention from
the media -- and from other participants, in some cases -- in spite of
representing a country at variance with the prevailing democratic currents in
the region.
Saladrigas said he hoped that knowledge of the poll would prod Latin
American leaders to take a more outspoken position against Castro and the Cuban
government.
MESSAGE FOR LEADERS
The message for Latin American leaders who may attend the conference,
Saladrigas said: There won't be a backlash from constituents if they decide to
take a hard stance against Castro's Cuba.
"It shows that the time for change is here,'' Saladrigas said.
The poll, which has a margin of error of 1 percent, consisted of 10,248
interviews conducted between April and August in Argentina, Peru, Venezuela,
Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama and Guatemala. The U.S. sample was made up of
Hispanics in Miami, New York and Los Angeles.
The question related to Castro was simple: Do you have a positive opinion or
a negative opinion of Fidel Castro?
The poll did not address policy issues such as the U.S. economic embargo
against Cuba or Castro's own political views.
The overwhelming majority of respondents -- between 63 and 82 percent -- in
seven of the eight countries said they had a negative opinion of Castro --
although his name recognition remained high. Only in Argentina did the positive
impressions outweigh the negative; 53 percent of respondents said they had a
positive image of the Cuban president.
Similar results were found in a poll released in 1997 by the Wall Street
Journal and 15 leading Latin American newspapers, which showed that only 27
percent of respondents in 14 Latin American countries had a "positive or
somewhat positive'' view of Castro.
The net result in both studies: The farther away from Cuba the countries
were located, the more positive points Castro gained.
POPULAR SENTIMENT
Sidney Weintraub, director of the Americas Program at the Center for
Strategic and International Studies, said the poll's findings accurately portray
popular sentiment for Castro in Latin America.
"He's a person of another time, of another era,'' Weintraub said.
So why aren't Latin American countries harder on Castro?
"They've got their own problems to deal with,'' Weintraub said. "Cuba
doesn't really matter to them. They view it as a U.S. problem.''
Weintraub said he does not expect Cuba to be an issue at the upcoming
summit, which will likely focus on discussions about how to survive in a
declining economy.
Though analysts agree that Castro is "a man of the past,'' they say
what is remarkable is the fact that Castro continues to be one of the most
sought after leaders at international gatherings.
'CELEBRITY STATUS'
He also is frequently the one whose presence generates the loudest applause,
said Peter Hakim, president of the Inter-American Dialogue, a Washington policy
institute.
"He is not thought of highly as a political leader but he has achieved
celebrity status,'' Hakim said.
Part of the reason, he said, is Castro's long tenure and his unrelenting
resistance to the "greatest power on earth.''
While most Latin American leaders generally align themselves with the United
States on most issues, "the fact that the U.S. is so fixated and extreme in
its position in regards to Cuba probably reduces their willingness to be put on
a limb,'' Hakim said.
"Many [in Latin America] believe U.S. policy does not help make changes
in Cuba that the United States would like to see. They view it as extreme and
counterproductive.''
The Cuba Study Group is a year-old, anti-Castro organization made up of
prominent business executives and philanthropists. Its leaders say the group
seeks to promote democratic change in Cuba.
Smuggling more prevalent, and deadly
By Jay Weaver. jweaver@herald.com
Federal investigators say the traffic of human cargo from Cuba to the United
States has gone from bad to worse -- and more people are dying.
"We've never seen anything like this year,'' said Assistant U.S.
Attorney Patricia Diaz, who prosecutes smuggling cases. "Greed is a
motivator. The more you can jam on a boat, the more money you can make.''
Diaz said smugglers are charging $8,000 to $10,000 per person, squeezing as
many people -- including children and babies -- into their speedboats.
So far this year, at least 10 people, including three small children, are
believed to have died after stepping aboard U.S.-bound smuggling boats.
All this is happening despite a multiagency task force created by the
federal government this year to attack migrant smuggling and a U.S. attorney who
promises to prosecute anyone caught profiting from others' misery.
"It is a priority because trafficking in human cargo is not only
illegal but dangerous and deadly,'' First Assistant U.S. Attorney Barry Sabin
said.
The Coast Guard spent Tuesday searching the Florida Straits for survivors of
a capsized boat believed to have carried about 30 people, including at least 11
children and an 8-month-old, according to relatives. Rescuers found only life
jackets and debris.
One relative in Miami said he had agreed to pay at least $8,000 for each of
his family members to be brought to Florida in time for Thanksgiving.
"Those smugglers are not down there to get people off an island. They
are down there to make money,'' U.S. Border Patrol spokesman Joe Mellia said. "Unfortunately,
people are losing their lives because of the criminals involved in alien
smuggling.''
The smuggling phenomenon is a byproduct of the U.S. migration policy dating
to the rafter crisis in 1994. That year, more than 37,000 Cuban migrants were
intercepted at sea, with most held in a refugee city at the U.S. naval base at
Guantanamo Bay.
To end the exodus, President Bill Clinton agreed to grant at least 20,000
visas a year to Cubans. But the U.S. government also mandated that refugees
picked up at sea be returned to Cuba unless they could prove they had a "well-founded
fear of persecution.''
About 2,300 Cuban migrants were intercepted by the Coast Guard from 1995 to
1998.
But Cubans still took to the waters.
In 1998, federal officials began allowing Cubans who made it onto U.S.
shores to change their status from "wet-foot'' to "dry-foot'' aliens,
qualifying for residency under the 1966 Cuban Adjustment Act.
"The interdiction policy is what made the alien-smuggling business
prosper -- it created a cottage industry,'' said Miami attorney Wilfredo Allen,
who has represented both smuggling operators and migrants. "Unfortunately,
getting people out of Cuba is a business. Smuggling has become a cash cow.''
Border Patrol agents have apprehended an average of 2,150 Cubans who have
reached U.S. shores during each of the past three years -- 17 times greater than
the total in 1998.
"I would say 95 percent of the apprehension is alien smuggling,''
Mellia said.
Almost all Cuban migrants are released because they qualify to apply for
residency under the Cuban Adjustment Act.
Federal prosecutors say at least 144 people have been convicted on
alien-smuggling charges since 1998, most of them involving smuggling people
across the Florida Straits. Three people have been acquitted, prosecutors say.
Federal prosecutors, like Diaz, have joined forces with the Border Patrol,
Coast Guard, Customs Service and FBI to try to shut down alien smuggling from
Cuba and other Caribbean countries.
Federal grand juries are now sifting through evidence of illegal smuggling
between Cuba and Florida.
Prosecutors are considering seeking the death penalty against two Miami-Dade
County men whose alleged smuggling run in August left six people dead when their
boat flipped in rough seas.
"The smugglers are fueled by greediness. It's time that the locals
understand this, that this is no way to seek freedom for their family members,''
Coast Guard spokesman Luis Diaz said.
Herald staff writer Jennifer Babson contributed to this report.
Perilous Voyages
Recent suspected smuggling cases involving deaths:
August 2001: Miami-Dade County residents Roberto Montero-Dominguez and
Osvaldo Fernandez-Marrero are charged with smuggling aliens for profit and
attempted smuggling resulting in death. Six die -- including Fernandez-Marrero's
wife and two young daughters -- when a 27-foot speedboat carrying 26 people
flips in rough seas. The men are awaiting trial.
January 2000: The Coast Guard intercepts an overloaded Haitian boat near
Key Biscayne. Migrants say as many as six people died on the voyage, the bodies
thrown overboard. The criminal case fizzles when migrants refuse to cooperate
and give conflicting stories.
October 1999: Two drown when boat with 10 aboard capsizes 15 miles north of
Havana. Cuban officials arrest suspected smugglers Sabino Lopez, Luis Rodriguez
of South Florida. Lopez sentenced to life, Rodriguez 20 years.
December 1998: 23 Cubans plunge into deep water off Florida. Nine die, five
are missing. Boat owner Francisco Gomez, helper Pedro Julio Guevara are charged
with trying to bring Cubans from Bahamas. Both get 16 months.
November 1998: A 3-year-old and her parents drown, and 13 people are
rescued, when an overloaded motorboat capsizes off Miami Beach. Nicandro and
Abel Morejon charged 11 Cubans $1,500 each for the trip from Bimini. A federal
judge sentences the brothers to more than three years each.
August 1998: A speedboat traveling from Bahamas slams into sandbar off
Jupiter; two Haitians drown. Jury convicts boat captain Addison Hepburn of
smuggling aliens, holds him responsible for one death. He gets 10 years.
January 1996: Abel Miranda Fuentes, Jorge Nimer Rolo are sentenced to 16
months for involuntary manslaughter. They admit to driving a boat so fast in May
1995 that one of 20 Cubans aboard died from the pounding.
SOURCE: U.S. attorney's office and news reports
Copyright 2001 Miami Herald | 
