By Ray Sanchez | Sun-Sentinel.com
7:53 AM EDT, April 14, 2008
HAVANA - The ill-fated journey that was to deliver popular Cuban
reggaeton artist Elvis Manuel and other migrants to South Florida went
wrong from the start.
The twin-engine vessel was supposed to pick up only the censured
18-year-old singer, who is presumed missing at sea, his mother Irioska
Maria Nodarse, 43, and two other reggaeton artists, said Nodarse, who is
now back in Cuba, said in an interview Sunday.
But when the four arrived at the departure point outside the western
city of Pinar del Rio on April 6, more than a dozen others were waiting
to make the perilous trip across the Florida Straits, according to
Nodarse and Alejandro "DJ Jerry" Rodriguez Lopez, 19, another survivor.
"We were lied to about many parts of the journey," Nodarse said of the
unidentified men she claimed promised her son to reggaeton stardom in
America.
The disappearance of Elvis Manuel and four other Cubans underscored the
growing number of migrants leaving the communist island in illegal
smuggling operations.
More than 1,240 Cuban migrants have been intercepted at sea in the last
six months, compared with 425 more than the same period last year,
according to the U.S. Coast Guard. Nearly 8,000 other migrants have
successfully landed on the shores of South Florida or entered the U.S.
through the Mexican border since October.
Confusion and contradiction abound in the smuggling tale of the
promising young artist. Elvis Manuel, his mother and associates were
told a 36-foot fastboat would pick them up April 6. Instead, a 25-foot
catamaran arrived for them – and the others – a day later.
"The way they talked, we expected to be picked up in a yacht," Rodriguez
said of the mysterious Miami record producers reportedly behind the voyage.
The plan included a rendezvous with another vessel that never
materialized, the two survivors said. The Global Positioning System
equipment used by the human smugglers did not function in bad weather
about 50 miles south of Key West.
But the venture turned for the worse. Nodarse and Rodriguez, who were
rescued by the coast guard along with 12 others on Wednesday, said the
boat capsized in choppy seas. The 19 migrants aboard the vessel were
thrown into the straits. Mother and son were separated.
"I heard my son scream, 'Mami!'" Nodarse said calmly. "I said, "Elvis,
hurry over.' I didn't hear him again." Rodriguez remembered that it was
almost dawn. Giant waves battered the catamaran. Some people panicked
and stood up. The vessel flipped over. Elvis Manuel and four others
drifted away. Survivors clung to the overturned boat.
"I don't know if Elvis is alive or dead," Rodriguez said. "I heard him
say, 'Mami.' Then, there was a huge wave and he and the others were
gone. We called out his name, over and over."
Two days later, on Wednesday, a passing ship spotted the 14 survivors
and alerted the coast guard. The crew of the cargo ship Nordic Moon
rescued the survivors. The coast guard later picked up the 12 male and
two female migrants. Two suspected smugglers were turned over the U.S.
Border Patrol.
In Miami, prominent Cuban exiles such as singer Willy Chirino staged
vigils and urged U.S. authorities not to deport Elvis Manuel if he was
found at sea. His whereabouts remain a mystery one week after Elvis
Manuel left Cuba.
Elvis Manuel Martinez Nodarse was just 17 when he made a name for
himself in the Cuban reggaeton scene last year with two raunchy hits, La
Tuba and La Mulatta. But his mother and Rodriguez said Cuban authorities
refused to recognize him as an official artist, keeping his music off
state-controlled radio stations and preventing him from securing paid
gigs sanctioned by the government.
"He was watching his career and his moment slip away from him," Nodarse
said, adding that despite her son's lack of official recognition he
managed to support the family by performing under the table.
Nodarse said her son was "brainwashed" by unidentified Miami music
producers who promised him legal travel documents and stardom if he
signed on with them. When the Miami contacts failed to deliver on the
travel documents, she said, they convinced her son that the smuggling
operation was his only way out.
"They filled his head with lies and promises," she said.
Rodriguez, referring to the Miami producers, said: "They kept saying we
were going to hit it big outside Cuba. People arrived at your door
wearing big gold chains and promising you fame. I told Elvis I'd go
anywhere with him."
Asked if he believed Elvis Manuel was alive, Rodriguez hesitated.
"I don't know what to say," he said.
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/local/cuba/sfl-414cuba,0,5655624.story
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