Families deny Cubans passage was paid

Posted on Mon, Jul. 10, 2006

Families deny Cubans' passage was paid
Three suspected smugglers involved in a deadly voyage over the weekend
will appear in a Key West federal courtroom today. Meanwhile, relatives
in Miami denied it was a smuggling mission.
BY CAMMY CLARK, STEPHANIE GARRY AND CARLI TEPROFF
sgarry@MiamiHerald.com

Three men suspected of leading a deadly smuggling operation will appear
in federal court in Key West today, while relatives in Miami denied they
paid for the Cuban migrants' passage. Killed Saturday was a woman now
identified as Amay Machado Gonzalez, 24. She was among the 31 migrants
crammed into a go-fast boat that was pursued by a U.S. Coast Guard
cutter on the Florida Straits.

The Monroe County medical examiner's autopsy Sunday confirmed that
Machado's death was caused by blunt force to the head, not gunshots
fired by the Coast Guard to disable the 36-foot boat.

Machado's fatal injuries likely occurred as she was violently jostled
about the speeding boat. She also suffered blunt injuries to the
extremities, back and chest, according to Dr. Michael Hunter.

In Miami, Agustin Uralde told Telemundo-Channel 51 on Sunday the dead
woman was his daughter-in-law, who had made the journey with his son,
also named Agustin.

''My son called us and said his wife was dead,'' a tearful Agustin Sr.
told the station in an exclusive interview. 'I asked him if he was sure
she was the one that had died? He said: `Dad, I'm sure.' ''

Agustin Sr. said his son was also injured during the violent chase. ''My
son's arm is shattered,'' he said. Agustin Sr. said he's fearful his son
will be sent back to Cuba. ''He'll be arrested,'' he told the station.

He was also struggling with how to give the sad news to Machado's
relatives back in Cuba. He said he planned to claim Machado's body for
burial.

He denied it was a smuggling mission that killed the woman,
characterizing it instead as a family reunification effort. So did Alex
Conde of Miami, whose sister and two nieces are among the 26 other
migrants now detained at sea onboard the Coast Guard cutter Decisive.

''These people are not smugglers,'' Conde said. ``We were just bringing
our family.''

Conde said the boat operators, the unidentified alleged smugglers, were
related to some of the migrants on board and that no money was exchanged
in the attempt to bring them to U.S. soil.

The latest deadly migrant drama began early Saturday morning when the
Coast Guard tried to stop the go-fast boat carrying the 21 men, eight
women and two female teenagers.

After a half-hour high-speed chase, the Coast Guard opened fire on the
boat's engine, disabling it just four miles south of Key West. Video
released showed both boats bouncing in the high, rough seas before the
alleged smuggling boat stops.

On board, authorities found five injured migrants, among them Machado,
who died on the way to receive emergency medical attention. Also brought
to land was a pregnant woman who was treated and released from a Florida
Keys hospital. She has been turned over to relatives in South Florida
and will likely be allowed to remain in the U.S.

Under the wet-foot/dry-foot policy, Cuban migrants intercepted at sea
are generally sent back to the island, while those who reach land are
allowed to stay.

But in this case, if federal authorities decide to charge the alleged
smugglers some or all of the migrants may be allowed to remain in the
U.S. as witnesses.

Coast Guard officials held a press conference in Key West on Sunday and
said that Machado's death was not caused by the Coast Guard.

''This person died tragically because the smugglers disregarded the
order to stop,'' Capt. P.J. Heyl, Sector Commander of U.S. Coast Guard.

He said Machado's injuries could have been sustained before or after the
Coast Guard chase and that her death is not a result of law enforcement
actions.

``Medical help would have come a lot sooner if they hadn't ignored our
orders.''

The migrants' fate remains up in the air. Relatives met in Miami on
Sunday with Ramón Saúl Sánchez, leader of the Democracy Movement exile
group, to strategize how to keep them from being returned to the island.
Sanchez said if returned to Cuba, Conde's sister could face charges of
endangering her children at sea and be jailed.

''We're just praying that they don't send her back,'' Conde said. ``I
know that if they send her back they're going to take her kids away from
her and she's going to go to jail. That's our biggest fear.''

Sánchez, who went on a 12-day hunger strike earlier this year in protest
of the wet-foot/dry-foot policy, said U.S. officials should keep the
migrants in the U.S. as witnesses if smuggling charges are filed.

In smuggling that results in serious injury or death immigration law
appears not to discriminate between commercial and noncommercial motives.

Sánchez said his exile group, Democracy Movement, is exploring the
possibility of helping the migrants claim political asylum but only if
the trip was the work of relatives and not smugglers.

''The motivations are very different from somebody who's making money,''
Sanchez said. ``There's a substantial difference between the two cases.''

Miami Herald staff writers Luisa Yanez and Andrea Torres contributed to
this report.

http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/news/breaking_news/15003030.htm