Smugglers make quick guilty

Posted on Thu, Nov. 03, 2005

IMMIGRATION
Smugglers make quick guilty pleas
Two men cut plea deals in a migrant-smuggling case involving the drowning of a Cuban boy.
By JAY WEAVER
jweaver@herald.com

Two Miami men pleaded guilty Wednesday in federal court to smuggling 29 Cubans in a speedboat that overturned and claimed the life of a young boy who got trapped beneath the capsized vessel.
Rather than face trial, Alexander Gil Rodriguez and Luis Manuel Taboada-Cabrera cut quick plea deals with federal prosecutors, who didn't have enough evidence to charge them with the Oct. 13 death of 6-year-old Julian Villasuso.
The men, Cuban immigrants who arrived in South Florida during the past year, could face up to six years in prison at a Jan. 24 sentencing hearing before U.S. District Judge K. Michael Moore. The boy's death could be a factor in the sentencing of Rodriguez, 25, and Taboada-Cabrera, 28.
''I feel what my clients are getting is fair,'' attorney Steven Amster said. ``It could have been a lot worse.''
At sentencing, Amster said his clients plan to express their remorse for the boy's death, which they viewed as a tragic accident.
Acting U.S. Attorney R. Alexander Acosta condemned the crime and similar illicit smuggling operations.
''These smuggling ventures recklessly create a substantial risk of death,'' he said. ``In this case, an innocent 6-year-old boy died. This must stop.''
Smuggling operations have contributed to the sharp rise in Cuban migrations across the Florida Straits, U.S. authorities said. The number of Cubans intercepted at sea has reached nearly 2,400 this year, nearly double the total for 2004.
The smuggling-conspiracy prosecution stems from an incident that occurred during the early morning of Oct. 13, when Coast Guard officials tracked down a Florida-registered speedboat, carrying the 29 Cuban migrants, about 52 miles south of Key West. After fleeing the Coast Guard, the boat flipped over in the Florida Straits.
Authorities discovered the boy beneath the 33-foot boat after rescuers pulled to safety the other passengers, including the boy's parents and the smugglers.
Coast Guard officials said they launched an inflatable boat after the crew aboard the speedboat disregarded all signals to stop and attempted to elude authorities at a high rate of speed.
When the vessel came to a stop, numerous passengers stood up, shifting the weight of the boat and causing it to capsize, according to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials, who investigated the case jointly with the Coast Guard.
The day after the incident, the boy's parents, Julian Villasuso and Maizy Hurtado, were brought to Key West.
Their son, Julian, was buried in Miami-Dade County after a funeral Mass in Little Havana.
One other passenger on the go-fast boat was also brought to the Keys after showing signs of appendicitis.
The 25 other Cuban migrants who survived remain aboard a Coast Guard cutter in international waters off Florida's coast. ''They're all doing fine,'' Coast Guard spokesman Luis R. Diaz said.
Their fate -- to be repatriated to Cuba or brought to the United States -- could be resolved by Friday, Diaz said.
If the past serves as precedent, the migrants are likely to be returned to their homeland because of the U.S. wet-foot/dry-foot immigration policy. Under the policy, Cubans who reach the United States, even illegally, are allowed to remain, while those stopped at sea are usually returned.


http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/news/world/cuba/13066633.htm