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The tugboat massacre
Our opinion: Cubans
will flee until rights are protected
Posted on Tue, Jul. 13,
2004 in The Miami Herald.
Ten years ago today, Jorge A. García
lost 14 relatives in an atrocity that horrified
the Cuban people and still shocks the conscience:
The murder of 41 civilians, among them 10
children, sent to sea graves when three
Cuban boats, chased, rammed and sank the
13 de Marzo, the old wooden tugboat in which
they were fleeing the island.
True nature
''In speeches, the Cuban government always
was saying how it protected women and children,''
Mr. García says today. This massacre
''laid bare the true nature of Cuba's government.''
Indeed, the murders revealed how far the
Castro dictatorship was willing to go to
maintain totalitarian control. The same
instinct came into play last year when the
regime summarily executed three young men
accused of attempting to hijack a ferry.
Lest anyone forget, Fidel Castro will stop
at nothing to stay in power.
Mr. García had 17 relatives among
the 72 Cubans on the 13 de Marzo tugboat.
Only three of his loved ones survived, among
them his daughter María Victoria
García Suarez. She lost her brother,
husband and 10-year-old son, Juan María
Gutiérrez García, and hasn't
recovered since. Mr. García describes
how she was in the water with Juan on her
back when Cuban seamen trained high-pressure
water hoses on them, and the boy slipped
away . . .
An uprising
In Havana, the survivors continued to be
persecuted by the regime. But their story
and the outrage spread by word of mouth.
Then on Aug. 8, 1994, thousands of Cubans
erupted in protest at el Malecon, Havana's
seawall. The sea escapes continued and turned
into a rafter crisis. Though U.S. policy
has slowed uncontrolled exodus, the urge
to flee will continue until Cuba has a government
that respects human rights.
Related:
Tragedy
at Havana Bay: Personal Testimony: The Sinking
Of The 13 de Marzo Tug Boat
Castro's
massacre of children
Equal
opportunity killing: Victims under age 18
of the Castro regime in Cuba
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