Cuban rafters stopped from marking Fourth in USA

Cuban rafters stopped from marking Fourth in USA
Posted: Jul 04, 2015 4:47 PM
Posted by Olivia LevoyCONNECT

ABOARD THE U.S.C.G.C. CHARLES SEXTON (USA TODAY)— When 24 Cubans
secretly departed their island on a boat they'd built themselves this
week, they packed it tight with only basics to survive the treacherous,
90-mile voyage to America.

Gallons of water. Crackers. Pieces of fish. A medical kit. And two
bottles of Havana Club, Cuba's signature rum.

"We were going to celebrate by drinking them on July 4th in the United
States," one of them said.

Instead, they were intercepted by the U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Charles
Sexton and spent the week aboard the ship, waiting to be returned to
Cuba. More cruelly to their shattered dreams, they drifted within sight
of Key West as Coast Guard personnel interviewed and medically screened
them.

Then the cutter prepared to take them back under the 1966 Cuban
Adjustment Act, which allows island residents who simply touch U.S. soil
to stay but requires those caught at sea to be returned home.

The Coast Guard invited this reporter to observe such an operation under
rules that bar interviews with the captured Cubans or photographs of
them, although overheard comments were allowed for publication.

Aboard the cutter, the Cubans did not know President Obama and Cuban
President Raúl Castro announced a deal Wednesday to reopen embassies in
Washington and Havana. That was the latest step in a process that began
in December to end a half-century of hostilities and move to normalize
relations.

Embassies in both capitals will make it easier for Americans and Cubans
to travel to each others' countries, but not in time to help these rafters.

Some said they couldn't afford to pay for a visa to the USA, let alone
an airline ticket. They wondered whether Cuban authorities would ever
grant them permission to travel to the USA now that they'd been caught
trying to flee Cuba illegally.

In a country where the average salary is about $20 a month, just an
interview for a visa to the U.S. costs $160 and round trip flights to
Miami cost several hundred dollars.

Lt. Kevin Connell, commanding officer of the Charles Sexton, said his
crew saw a "significant spike" in rafters fleeing Cuba after the thaw in
U.S.-Cuban relations in December. Connell said information, "or
misinformation," in Cuba led many to believe that their guaranteed entry
once on U.S. soil might soon end, prompting a rush to sea.

That's why he closely followed Wednesday's announcement by Obama and
Castro to ensure his crew was ready for another possible exodus from the
island.

"It's not something that you can predict, but you can prepare for,"
Connell said.

Leaning over a railing looking to shore, one of the Cuban migrants asked
if the tiny land mass on the horizon was really Key West. When he
learned that it was, he hung his head and talked about jumping ship and
trying to swim to shore.

The man was talked out of the decision, but he and others couldn't stop
lamenting how close they'd come to making it to shore. They spoke of the
time they spent constructing their 18-foot boat, the money they spent
finding a working boat engine, the agony of seeing all that sunk by
Coast Guard officials to remove the navigating hazard from the sea.

Mostly, they spoke of returning home and starting from scratch, building
boats to try again. One man said this was his fourth attempt. Another
said it was his fifth. Another said it was his 17th.

Embassies or not, political normalization or not, all vowed they would
take to sea and try yet again.

Source: Cuban rafters stopped from marking Fourth in USA - KYTX CBS19.tv
- News, Weather, & Sports | Tyler-Longview -
http://www.cbs19.tv/story/29473948/cuban-rafters-stopped-from-marking-fourth-in-usa