July 28, 2006
Unbelievable
Without commentary, via Cubanet:
Rafters charge three times they were ignoredMOA, 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.
Posted by Val Prieto at July 28, 2006 06:06 AM
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Comments
i beleive that..our island is a "surrealistic extreme",so,anything goes,as long as it is totally out of sense,and out of logic and humanity..
Posted by: tony44 ![[TypeKey Profile Page]](http://www.babalublog.com/nav-commenters.gif)
at July 28, 2006 09:06 AM
I could say that these poor refugees were extremly lucky that they were not machine-gunned. During my time in the US Navy, my ship stationed out of Guantanamo Bay, we came upon a couple of small boats crammed with refugees, including woman and children that had been racked with machine gun fire and left to sink. Nowadays the Cuban castro navy ignores them or blows them out of the water leaving no witnesses.
Posted by: Barrio La Cantera at July 28, 2006 11:10 AM
A US Navy man who was also stationed out of guantanamo in the early 90s personally admitted to me that the Navy "ghosted" boatloads of refuggees in 1991/1992 because they "all had AIDS and were fucked."
Posted by: nico at July 28, 2006 08:47 PM
nico,thanks god there are just a few usnavy that think that way ....
Posted by: tony44 at July 28, 2006 09:35 PM
You sure it is just a few, tony?
Posted by: nico at July 29, 2006 04:07 AM
It is wrenching to HEAR about people fleeing the Island on home made rafts. However, I've just SEEN them on the DVDs available at CubaCollectibles. I highly recommend the series entitled, "Covering Cuba." These films are professional, available in both Spanish and English, and tangible proof of the insanity that takes place in Cuba. To counteract the surreal events, one of the films features the younger generation of Cuban-Americans; a bright, enthusiastic and highly educated group of men and women.
Now, how do we get copies of these DVDs into the hands of the US military so that US personnel will understand EXACTLY who is on these rafts and what has driven them to this dangerous journey? I am sickened by the term "ghosted" and deplore the ignorance behind it.
CubaCollectibles is one of the most consumer-friendly sites on the Web and their personal attention is outstanding.
Posted by: Grammy in Phila. at July 30, 2006 08:45 PM
yes nico,they are just a few,or at least a minority,the navy has been saving cubans escaping castro's regime since 1959,so,please,dont forget that...
Posted by: tony44 at July 30, 2006 10:03 PM
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