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Two
in Cuban Boat-Truck Get Visa Interviews
Yahoo! News, October 9, 2003.
HAVANA - Two of the people who converted a 1951
Chevy pickup into a boat in a failed bid to reach
American shores were granted interviews giving
them a chance to get U.S. visas, one of the men
said Wednesday.
Ariel Diego and Luis Grass received letters from
the U.S. Interests Section inviting them to interviews
on Dec. 3. Such interviews do not guarantee being
granted a visa.
"At least this an option we have,"
Diego told journalists. "The possibility
still exists."
The U.S. Coast Guard sent the group back to Cuba
in July after a U.S. Customs plane spotted their
unusual truck-boat floating south of Key West
in the Florida straits. The craft came within
40 miles of the U.S. coast.
The truck-boat was kept afloat by empty 55-gallon
drums attached to the bottom as pontoons. A propeller
attached to the drive shaft was pushing it along
at about 8 mph.
Under U.S. immigration policies, Cubans who reach
U.S. shores are allowed to stay while those caught
at sea are usually returned.
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