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FROM
CUBA
Rafters charge three times they were ignored
MOA, Cuba - July 25 (Juan Carlos Garcell,
APLO / www.cubanet.org) - A group of five
men who became stranded at sea as they attempted
to leave Cuba charged their pleas for help
were ignored in three separate instances
by Cuban navy, coast guard, and merchant
vessels.
The five, Miguel Molina, Nelson Ramírez,
Leonel Tabares, Bismar Durán, and
William Lafita, said they sailed from the
north coast of Holguín at about 9
o'clock the night of July 18 in a rickety
craft. The next day at about 4 in the afternoon
the boat's engine broke down, stranding
them they calculate about 14 miles from
the Bahamas island chain.
It was after that, they said, that they
were sighted by a Cuban coast guard vessel,
to whom they appealed for help in regaining
land. They said coast guard personnel told
them they would broadcast their position
so they would be picked up, but they never
saw them again.
On July 22 at about 7 in the morning, they
said they were intercepted by a Cuban navy
craft about 20 miles from the navy post
at Dos Bahías. The five said the
navy sailors also ignored their request
for help. A little later, at 8:25 the same
morning, they came across the El Jaruco,
a Cuban merchantman, to whom they appealed
saying they had sick and dehydrated persons
aboard. The captain, they said, told them
he had no resources to help them and left
them to their own devices.
Finally the five said they made their way
to a coast guard station north of Moa by
means of make-shift oars they fashioned
from other parts of their craft. Once there,
they said, they were arrested and taken
to the Department of State Security in Holguín
for questioning.
They were later tried and fined between
six and nine thousand pesos for the illegal
purchase of the craft, but were exonerated
on the charge of attempting to leave the
island illegally.
Versión
original en español
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