Pregnant woman, husband tell of being shot while fleeing Cuba on raft to U.S.

Pregnant woman, husband tell of being shot while fleeing Cuba on raft to
U.S.
Mike ClaryContact Reporter
Sun Sentinel

Pregnant Cuban woman and husband tell tale of being shot as they board a
raft for U.S.

A pregnant Cuban woman and her husband prepared to launch what they
called "our American dream" with relatives in Cooper City on Monday
after describing a harrowing departure from the island on a raft during
which they and five others were wounded by gunfire.

"I was nervous and scared, but I had to go on, I couldn't go back," said
Yarelys Rios Aguilera, 37, who is 16 weeks pregnant and was hit in the
side just above the hip.

As the raft pulled away from the island, Rios did not know if her unborn
child would survive, she said. But doctors in Miami have assured her the
baby is fine, she said.

Rios, along with husband Denny Rumbaut Varona, 33, told their story at
Jackson Memorial Hospital, where each was treated for gunshot wounds.
The couple said they were shot before dawn Saturday in Matanzas province
on Cuba's north coast as they and 24 other Cubans set sail for the U.S.

Promoted stories from PoliticsChatter.com

The makeshift raft was stopped by the U.S. Coast Guard Saturday
afternoon south of Key West. Six of the seven wounded were brought ashore.

Rumbaut said he did not see the assailants, who he said came out of the
woods near shore. He said he believes they were trying to steal the
raft, which was equipped with a Mercedes-Benz car engine and food and
water for days, he said.

He said he heard eight or nine shots, and was bleeding profusely from a
wound to the side as the raft motored away from shore.

"Even though we were injured, we decided to keep going," Rumbaut said.
"We boarded the raft, and then decided to at least make it to American
waters so the Coast Guard could help."

Two other rafters, among four who were released from Lower Keys Medical
Center in Key West after treatment, have told similar stories to
reporters who interviewed them at Church World Service, a resettlement
agency in Doral.

Rumbaut, who had been driving a taxi in Havana, said he paid a total of
about $900 for his and his wife's passage. He said he did not know the
organizers.

Asked why he wanted to flee Cuba, Rumbaut said, "There is only one
reason: the economic situation there."

He said he has made 11 previous attempts to leave, and his wife three.
All were unsuccessful, he said.

The Keynoter newspaper reported late Saturday that the wounds were
"possibly self-inflicted." Neither the Coast Guard nor U.S. Customs and
Border Protection could confirm that report, officials said Sunday.

Nonetheless, the relatively minor nature of the gunshot wounds, and the
rarity of firearms in the hands of anyone but Cuban police left these
rafters answering questions about their stories.

Rios, Rumbaut and a third Cuban, Yaser Cabrera Romero, also wounded in
the left side, have all denied to news reporters that they caused their
own injuries in order to be brought into the U.S.

Under current U.S. immigration policy, Cubans who reach U.S. shores are
permitted to stay, while those picked up at sea are held aboard a Coast
Guard ship until they are returned to the island. Cubans who are injured
at sea and require treatment at a hospital are taken to shore, and
therefore allowed to stay in the U.S.

Oscar Rivera, director of Church World Service in Doral, said he has
interviewed two of the wounded Cubans, and has no reason to doubt their
stories.

But, he said, "This is very unusual. In the 1990s [during the rafter
crisis] I heard of shots being fired in Cuba, but never of anyone being
wounded."

Frank Miller, of U.S. Customs and Border Protection, said, "These
circumstances are certainly unusual. It is not every day that we see a
group of Cubans that arrive with injuries such as these. There is no
disputing that."

He said an investigation would be handled by his agency in coordination
with the Department of Homeland Security and the Coast Guard. "The
Border Patrol is concerned with all smuggling coming into Florida, not
just from Cuba," he said.

Even if the Cubans' stories do not check out, it is likely they would be
permitted to stay, Rivera said.

The other 20 Cubans picked up on this trip, including one person with a
minor gunshot wound, were being held aboard a Coast Guard vessel until
they are returned to Cuba, authorities said.

As Rios and Rumbaut prepared to leave the hospital Monday afternoon, his
cousin Yrmery Rumbaut and her husband, residents of Cooper City, were
there to meet them. "We did not know they were coming," said Yrmery
Rumbaut. "It was a surprise. We are happy they're here."

The number of Cubans trying to reach the U.S. by sea has increased
steadily since the U.S. announced the establishment of relations with
Cuba in December 2014, according to the Coast Guard. More than 2,500
Cubans have attempted to enter the U.S. by crossing the Florida Straits
since Oct. 1, 2015, officials said.

Among the most recent arrivals was a group of 24 Cubans found by a
passing boater on Cook Island, offshore of Big Pine Key, according to
the Monroe County Sheriff's Office. They were taken to shore at Little
Torch Key and turned over to Customs and Border Protection.

They were reported all in good condition.

mwclary@tribpub.com

Source: Pregnant woman, husband tell of being shot while fleeing Cuba on
raft to U.S. - Sun Sentinel -
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/local/miami-dade/fl-cuban-migrant-gunshot-folo-20160328-story.html