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CUBA
NEWS
The
Miami Herald
Cuba still needs help from storm, groups
say
Posted on Fri, Aug. 20,
2004.'
Two local Cuban solidarity organizations
want to remind South Floridians that Cuba
also suffered in the path of Hurricane Charley.
In a news conference Thursday, the Christian
Women Association in Defense of Cuban Families
and Jewish Solidarity asked the community
to contribute food and supplies for areas
of Cuba hit hard in last week's hurricane.
''We have not divorced ourselves from families
and friends on the island,'' said Jewish
Solidarity chairman Eddie Levy. "We
show solidarity to friends in need.''
The organizations are collecting food and
medical items in a warehouse. The organization
will use charter planes -- largely inactive
because of recent travel restrictions between
the United States and Cuba -- to transport
aid.
Jewish Solidarity, which is licensed through
the U.S. Department of Commerce to provide
assistance to Cuba, is also asking the U.S.
State Department for permission to contract
cargo planes that will carry heavier materials
such as wood panels and construction materials.
Donations can be brought to 100 Beacon
Blvd. 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. weekdays. For more
information, call Jewish Solidarity at 305-642-1600
Fourteen Cuban migrants arrive on Puerto
Rican island
Associated Press. Posted
on Fri, Aug. 20, 2004.
SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico - Fourteen Cuban
migrants traveling on a wooden boat landed
on Puerto Rico's Mona Island, officials
said Friday.
The six men and eight women arrived Thursday
and turned themselves in to Puerto Rican
rangers who patrol the island, said Leila
Andreu, spokeswoman for the Department of
Natural and Environmental Resources.
The Cubans arrived hours after another
group of eight Cubans landed on Mona on
Thursday. They were waiting to be picked
up by the U.S. Coast Guard.
The 14 were traveling with an unknown number
of Dominican migrants who kept going toward
Puerto Rico's main coast after dropping
them off on Mona, Andreu said.
Also Friday, authorities detained about
20 more Dominican migrants who arrived in
a group of more than 135 in northern Puerto
Rico on Thursday. Authorities said 97 have
been detained so far.
Dominican migrants are generally repatriated.
Under the 1966 Cuban Adjustment Act, most
Cubans who reach U.S. shores can stay in
the country and apply for legal U.S. residency
after one year. Those caught at sea are
generally repatriated.
U.S. authorities have intercepted more
than 7,000 migrants - mostly Dominicans
- trying to reach Puerto Rico since Oct.
1, more than double the number in the previous
12 months.
The illegal voyages have increased as the
Dominican economy has deteriorated to crisis
levels.
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