2 Miami men charged with smuggling Cuban migrants

Posted on Thu, Aug. 17, 2006

2 Miami men charged with smuggling Cuban migrants
Associated Press

NAPLES, Fla. - Two men have been charged with smuggling 20 Cuban
migrants, including a pregnant woman and a 1-year-old boy, to southwest
Florida, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office.

Noel Lopez, 32, and Juan Gonzalez-Hernandez, 38, both of Miami, were
charged Wednesday, Chief Assistant U.S. Attorney Doug Molloy said. They
both face up to 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine.

"The next step will be their formal arraignment on the indictment,"
Molloy said. "Then the discovery procedure will begin."

Collier County residents reported the Cubans coming ashore in a 25-foot
boat about 7 a.m. Tuesday. The migrants told authorities they left Pinar
Del Rio in western Cuba on Sunday - Fidel Castro's 80th birthday.

Ten migrants were treated for dehydration at a local hospital. All were
released from custody Wednesday, according to U.S. Border Patrol officials.

"Normally with people from Cuba, because they have a benefit process,
they are not detained unless they turn out to be a threat to the United
States," spokesman Steve McDonald said.

Under the "wet foot/dry foot" policy, most Cubans who reach U.S. soil
are allowed to remain, while those intercepted at sea are sent home.

Lopez and Gonzalez-Hernandez were being held at the Lee County jail. It
was not immediately known if the defendants had attorneys.

http://www.bradenton.com/mld/bradenton/15293565.htm