20 Cubans land in Honduras

[Bacchus39]

http://internacional.eluniversal.com/2008/05/20/int_ava_lllegan-20-cubanos-a_20A1591565.shtml

10:20 AM) Lllegan 20 cubanos a Honduras


Tegucigalpa.- Tras viajar once días en una frágil embarcación, 20 cubanos arribaron sin documentos a la costa atlántica de Honduras con la intención de irse después a Estados Unidos.

"Todo lo planificamos durante un año, nada fue al azar'', dijo a la televisión local el líder del grupo, Joel González. "Ya no soportamos la situación política y económica en Cuba''. (We can no longer endure the political and economic situation in Cuba)

Informó que salieron de Camagüey el 8 de mayo en una balsa de fibra de vidrio con un motor fuera de borda. "El viento y la marea nos trajo a este país'', añadió.

Los isleños llegaron el lunes a Tela, principal balneario hondureño sobre el Atlántico, a unos 300 kilómetros al norte de Tegucigalpa.

"Les gestionamos un permiso provisional para residir 30 días en Honduras'', declaró a la AP el representante en Tela de la oficina de Migración, Daniel Mejía. "El trámite es por razones humanitarias y para que ellos solventen su situación migratoria'', informó AP.

Los cubanos fueron trasladados a la central de los bomberos de la ciudad de La Ceiba, cercana a Tela.

Por lo menos 120 cubanos han ingresado en circunstancias similares a Honduras en lo que va del año.

Según el gobierno, la salida ilegal de cubanos de su país se ha convertido en un gran negocio para los traficantes internacionales de personas que les cobran hasta 25.000 dólares a cada uno de ellos por sacarlos hacia Miami, donde tienen familiares.

Para el gobierno, los cubanos no desean quedarse en Honduras, sino que su destino final es Estados Unidos.

Su ingreso a las playas hondureñas aumenta generalmente entre diciembre y mayo de cada año, cuando casi no hay vientos ni lluvias en el Atlántico debido a la estación de verano que predomina en el Caribe.

Estadísticas oficiales indican que en ocho años han ingresado de manera ilegal a Honduras más de 1.200 ciudadanos de Cuba que posteriormente se fueron a Miami, donde sus familiares les financian el viaje.

Las autoridades de migración tradicionalmente les extienden permiso para que permanezcan 15 ó 30 días en el país y los cubanos emigran posteriormente a Estados Unidos.

Cuba y Honduras reanudaron relaciones diplomáticas en enero de 2001, luego de estar distanciadas por 45 años. No sostuvieron relaciones diplomáticas formales desde enero de 1962, cuando la isla fue expulsada de la Organización de los Estados Americanos.

[Judi Lynn]

1. Coast Guard Repatriates 24 Dominicans

Coast Guard Repatriates 24 Dominicans
April 22, 2008
U.S. Coast Guard|by Ricardo Castrodad

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico - The crew of Coast Guard Cutter Chincoteague repatriated a Colombian and 24 Dominican migrants to La Romana, Dominican Republic Tuesday, following an at-sea interdiction by Department of Homeland Security law enforcement authorities Sunday.

The crew of a U.S. Customs and Border Protection fixed-wing aircraft located a migrant yola Sunday night while patrolling Mona Passage waters, approximately two nautical miles southwest of Mona Island, Puerto Rico.

Coast Guard Sector San Juan controllers diverted Coast Guard Cutter Chincoteague to the scene. The Chincoteague interdicted the migrant vessel Sunday night, and the crew embarked 24 men and 7 women who requested to be taken off the yola as their boat was riding low in the water. The crew of an Air Station Borinquen HH-65 Dolphin helicopter flew rescue support at the scene, while the migrants disembarked the yola and boarded the Chincoteague.

The migrants were traveling illegally to Puerto Rico aboard a 25-foot grossly overloaded wooden-blue yola. The Chincoteague's crew collected the migrant's biometric information and destroyed the yola as a hazard to navigation.

Coast Guard law enforcement personnel detained six Dominicans, five men and one woman, for attempting to enter illegally into the United States or a U.S. Territory on multiple occasions. The United States Attorney's Office in Puerto Rico accepted to prosecute their cases.

More:
http://www.military.com/news/article/coast-guard-news/coast-guard-repatriates-24-dominicans.html?col=1186032366581

[Judi Lynn]

2. Coast Guard interdicts 171 migrants in the Mona Pass

Coast Guard interdicts 171 migrants in the Mona Pass

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico – The crew of U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Key Largo successfully repatriated 171 Dominican migrants to La Romana, Dominican Republic, at 2:09 a.m. today.

The Dominican migrants were intercepted yesterday by Coast Guard Cutter Key Largo after they were spotted Tuesday at 10:44 a.m. by the crew of a Coast Guard HH-65 Dolphin helicopter 50 nautical miles northwest of Borinquen, Aguadilla, Puerto Rico.

The crew of the helicopter was responding to a medical evacuation taking place aboard cruise ship Carnival Legend at the time they spotted the yola. A Coast Guard HU-25 Falcon jet was diverted and arrived at the scene at 11:54 a.m. to monitor the location of the yola while the Key Largo made way to conduct the intercept.

All of the 171 migrants, 119 male and 52 female, appeared to be in good health, including a 4 month pregnant female, at the time they were transferred aboard the cutter.

The grossly overloaded 40-foot green and yellow yola makes it the second carrying the most amount of passengers intercepted by the U.S. Coast Guard in the Mona Passage.

The crew of the Key Largo destroyed the yola as a hazard to navigation.
Key Largo is a 110 foot patrol boat homeported in San Juan.

https://www.piersystem.com/go/doc/586/96931/

[Judi Lynn]

3. 290 migrants rescued in the Windward Pass since Feb. 21 are turned over by the crew of Coast Guard C

February 27, 2004
Repat2 - Feb. 27 (880.10 KB)

PORT-AU-PRINCE, HAITI -- 290 migrants rescued in the Windward Pass since Feb. 21 are turned over by the crew of Coast Guard Cutter Valiant, homeported in Miami, Fla., to officials from the Haitian Coast Guard in Port-au-Prince for repatriation. A total of 531 migrants are being repatriated today.

https://www.piersystem.com/go/doctype/586/4148/&offset=20

[Judi Lynn]

4. Haitian survivor clung to corpse in sea

Haitian survivor clung to corpse in sea
April 24, 2008 - 5:05pm

By TOSHEENA ROBINSON-BLAIR
Associated Press Writer

NASSAU, Bahamas (AP) - The moonlight illuminated the young woman's fellow passengers from the capsized boat, scattered through the chilly ocean 15 miles from land. Some of them screamed for help. Others bobbed silently, face-down in the water.

As the voices grew quiet one by one, Rodene Fileresaint clung to the only life preserver she could find: the lifeless body of a Haitian who had shared her American dream.

"I was holding onto a dead woman to keep afloat," the 23-year-old high school student said.

http://www.wtop.com/?nid=389&sid=1390521

[Judi Lynn]

5. More Than 100 Dominican Migrants Detained Off Puerto Rico

More Than 100 Dominican Migrants Detained Off Puerto Rico

January 25, 2004
Copyright © 2004 ASSOCIATED PRESS. All rights reserved.

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) _ Authorities have detained more than 100 Dominican migrants in three boats off the west coast of Puerto Rico, the U.S. Coast Guard said Saturday.

The 76 men and 17 women, found in good condition, were repatriated Saturday to their neighboring Spanish-speaking country, Coast Guard spokesman Eric Willis said.

A police helicopter on Friday night discovered the first 32-foot (9.6-meter) boat holding 30 migrants about 9 miles (15 kilometers) off the U.S. territory's northern coast, he said.

Police intercepted the second, 20-foot (6-meter) fiberglass boat with 69 passengers about 5 miles (8 kilometers) off the same coast, Willis said.

A Coast Guard cutter discovered the third boat on Saturday morning, after one of the passengers used a cellular phone to call for help when the boat ran into trouble on rough waters. The spokesman could give no further details about that encounter.

Since January, authorities have detained 937 migrants, mostly Dominicans, attempting the dangerous sea journey to enter this U.S. Caribbean territory.

http://www.puertorico-herald.org/issues/2004/vol8n05/Media3-en.html

[Judi Lynn]

6. US Coast Guard catches Peruvians, Dominicans at sea heading for Puerto Rico

News from the Caribbean as of Tuesday May 20, 2008


US Coast Guard catches Peruvians, Dominicans at sea heading for Puerto Rico
Wednesday, April 7, 2004

MIAMI, USA (AFP): The US Coast Guard said in a statement Tuesday it had intercepted 24 Dominicans and 14 Peruvians who tried to reach Puerto Rico by boat.

The Coast Guard said it was searching for three people who jumped into the water when the boat was stopped.

The seven-meter (23-foot) long boat was five kilometers (three miles) from the coast of Puerto Rico, which is a Spanish-speaking US commonwealth. The Dominican Republic is fewer than 130 kilometers (80 miles) to the west of Puerto Rico.

More than 3,000 Dominicans have been stopped at sea since January 2004, doubling the number of people who were caught in 2003. Finding Peruvians at sea is unusual, and Coast Guard officials could not explain how they ended up floating toward Puerto Rico.

http://www.caribbeannetnews.com/2004/04/07/uscg.htm

[Bacchus39]

7. I never heard of anyone claiming Haiti and the DR is the social paradise like Cuba is

do you recall?

[Judi Lynn]

8. I don't recall if you have, either. Sorry I can't help. n/t