The Miami Herald,
August 4, 2001
52 land in Keys from Cuba
Groups tell similar smuggling stories
By Elaine De Valle. edevalle@herald.com. Published Tuesday,
September 4, 2001.
A group of 22 Cubans was dropped off in the Florida Keys early Monday
morning, bringing to 52 the number of migrants smuggled in over the holiday
weekend.
Members of both groups told Border Patrol agents a strikingly similar story
about their illegal trip to the United States.
In both instances, they said they paid $8,000 each for a spot on a 30-foot
boat, said Assistant Chief Patrol Agent Norbert Gómez. Both smugglers, he
added, were described as Cubans who returned to the island with their vessels.
Gómez was unsure Monday if both groups were brought in by the same
person, but it was a possibility being investigated. He also said it was
possible both groups were brought by the same ring of smugglers, who often work
on both sides of the Florida Straits.
One thing was certain: Both boats were "grossly overloaded'' he said,
as was true of another group whose trip ended tragically last month.
Two South Florida men were charged Wednesday in a federal indictment for
their role in that alleged smuggling run, which left six people -- including
three children -- dead after a 27-foot boat crammed with 28 people capsized
about 20 miles south of Key West.
Authorities say it is a worrisome trend: Smugglers are packing in more
paying customers per trip to maximize profits.
"We're seeing more people in the boats,'' Gómez said. "We're
seeing them arrive in 20s and 30s, jammed in these boats.''
Both holiday weekend groups fit that bill.
"Thirty people on a 30-foot boat. That is grossly overloaded,'' Gómez
said.
"They were all hungry, thirsty. This is worse than medieval conditions.
They had no place to sit. They were thrown on top of one another.''
This weekend's two large groups landed at a time when the Border Patrol is
tripling the number of agents in its Miami office and getting a special
surveillance plane to search for speedboats in the Florida Straits. The Florida
Keys is a main target of the increased enforcement.
MORE PATROLS
"We have more people. We've augmented our patrols. We have 24-7
coverage,'' Gómez said, referring to round-the-clock duty.
"Our manpower is extremely mobile so we can move from one place to
another where the traffic is heaviest,'' he said. "Perhaps they're noticing
that and moving from another place [to the Keys].''
The latest group of 22 came ashore on Key Largo about 4:30 a.m., Gómez
said.
The 12 men, seven women, one girl and a 1-year-old boy were in good health,
he said.
They told the Border Patrol they left Sagua La Grande, Isabela, on Sunday
night in a 30-foot gray boat. They landed near Card Sound Road in northern Key
Largo early Monday and were first spotted by the Monroe County Sheriff's Office
about a half-hour later.
The migrants, taken to the Krome Detention Center, were likely to be
released in a day or two.
SPOTTED NEAR PARK
Monday's landing came less than 24 hours after 30 other Cubans were spotted
in the mangroves near John Pennekamp Coral Reef State Park in Key Largo. They
told agents they left Villa Clara in Central Cuba on Friday at 8 p.m. and made
landfall just before midnight Saturday, Gómez said.
The 16 men, six women and eight children, including a 1-year-old girl, were
found about 8:50 a.m. -- nearly 10 hours after they arrived. They all appeared
to be in good health, Gómez said.
But it could have ended differently.
"There was a baby there. A 1-year-old baby. Ten hours,'' Gómez
said. "They were abandoned in a remote area. . . . God knows how long they
could have been there with no food, no water.''
He asked members of both groups if they had been given any life preservers.
"They all looked at me with this blank stare,'' Gómez said. "It's
probably not something they thought of. When they got there, they were probably
too afraid to ask.''
One member of that earlier group told The Herald he didn't pay for his trip.
"A lot of us didn't pay, but I don't know if somebody in the group
did,'' said Yasel López 24. "I heard somebody in the group talking
about it.''
UNKNOWN CAUSE
Gómez said he doesn't know what caused the sudden rush of refugees. "Because
of the holiday weekend, maybe they thought many of us wouldn't be working or
that there would be a lot more pleasure boats in the water to blend in with,''
he said.
Smuggling operations have increasingly become an alternative for Cubans who
want to reach the U.S. since 1995, when federal policy began to call for the
return of rafters found at sea. Often called "the wet-foot, dry-foot''
rule, the policy allows for Cubans who reach U.S. soil to stay.
The Cuban government has blamed that policy and the Cuban Adjustment Act --
which allows Cubans who have been in the U.S. for one year and a day to become
legal permanent residents -- for encouraging the smuggling enterprises.
Elián not going to U.N. forum on children, his father says
CARDENAS, Cuba -- (AP) -- Elián González's father on Monday
denied reports that the 7-year-old boy would go to the United Nations this month
for a conference about children.
"I have been consulted about everything that happens with my family,''
Juan Miguel González said, holding Elián's hand as he walked him
to the front of his school for the first day of fall classes. "I'm not
going anywhere,'' and neither is Elián, the father added.
Time magazine reported last week that Cuban officials were weighing whether
to send the boy at the center of last year's international custody battle to a
U.N. children's summit in New York on Sept. 19-20. Cuban officials swiftly
denied that report.
Elián arrived Monday morning with his father at the school in a white
car. The child joined other students in their uniforms of white shirts, red
shorts or skirts, and matching neckerchiefs.
Elián was beginning the third grade, "and I hope he does better
than he did last year,'' González told reporters in brief comments
outside Marcelo Salado Primary School, in the family's hometown of Cárdenas,
a two-hour drive east of Havana.
Copyright 2001 Miami Herald | 
