Who shot 7 Cuban migrants? Wounded rafters say gunmen tried to steal boat

Who shot 7 Cuban migrants? Wounded rafters say gunmen tried to steal boat

Authorities are trying to unravel the mystery
Six of seven injured rafters were brought to a Keys hospital
Two of the six told the story of an attempted raft robbery

BY ALFONSO CHARDY AND SERGIO CÁNDIDO
achardy@elnuevoherald.com

When a Coast Guard crew spotted a raft filled with Cuban migrants, seven
were found shot.

Who opened fire? Was there a fight on board? Did they harm themselves?
Were they attacked?

Two of the wounded migrants lifted a curtain on the mystery when they
told their stories after arriving in Miami-Dade on Sunday afternoon.

They said gunmen opened fire on the raft, wounding seven of the 26
aboard, including a pregnant woman. The migrants said the criminals
wanted the makeshift boat.

"We really don't know who shot us, but we think it was criminals who
wanted to steal the raft," said Yaser Cabrera Romero, one of the
migrants interviewed after arriving at the Doral office of Church World
Service, an agency that helps refugees and immigrants resettle in the
United States. "We were just arriving in a vehicle that took us to the
raft, and while we were still on shore, four people showed up and
yelled: 'Stay where you are. The boat is ours!' "

Rather than surrendering, the 26 migrants confronted the attackers, one
of whom then pulled out a gun. The gunmen fled after wounding seven rafters.

With some in the group wounded, the rafters decided to continue with
their plan. They say they boarded the raft in the area of ​​Matanzas,
east of Havana, and sailed at 3 a.m. Saturday. They traveled for nine
hours to the outskirts of Key West, where they were intercepted by the
U.S. Coast Guard.

"We sailed for nine hours, injured and bleeding," Cabrera Romero said.

The dramatic story, breaking the initial mystery surrounding the curious
case, was told by Cabrera Romero and another rafter, Jorge Luis
Escalona, ​​who were taken to Miami from Key West after being released
by the hospital.

Six of the rafters whose injuries were considered serious were taken to
a hospital near Key West. The wounded seventh rafter was transferred
with the other remaining 19 migrants to a Coast Guard cutter likely to
be returned to Cuba, unless one or more claim fear of persecution if
returned, in which case they would be taken to the naval base at
Guantánamo to be processed for resettlement in a third country.

Authorities did not reveal details behind the shooting.

When the Coast Guard finds sick or injured rafters, they are brought
ashore to receive medical care. This allows the migrants transported
ashore to stay in the U.S and apply for permanent residence after more
than a year under the Cuban Adjustment Act. Generally, Cuban migrants
who are intercepted at sea are returned to Cuba under the
wet-foot/dry-foot policy.

Cabrera Romero and Escalona said the incident was an attempted robbery,
nothing more.

"We confronted them and one drew a gun," Escalona said. "It was very
dark, and we think they were criminals who wanted to steal our raft."

Escalona, ​​a nephew of his who was not interviewed and Cabrera Romero
showed their wounds to journalists.

Escalona had a wound on his side, his nephew on the shoulder and Cabrera
Romero in the abdomen. The three said the pregnant woman had been shot
in the back and that the injured rafter who was not brought ashore had a
bullet in the foot. It is not known where the remaining two rafters were
injured. The woman and another rafter were still hospitalized, Cabrera
Romero and Escalona said.

Cabrera Romero said doctors told him that his wound was not
life-threatening but that the bullet was still inside his body.

"They gave me morphine, but I have still have the bullet inside and it
hurts a lot," Cabrera Romero said. "I've had that bullet in me for more
than 24 hours."

According to KeysInfoNet, the six wounded rafters brought ashore were
taken to the Lower Keys Medical Center on Stock Island. Coast Guard
spokesmen said the Border Patrol was in charge of the six Cubans who
were taken to the hospital.

Frank Miller, a Border Patrol spokesman, said four were released to the
agency that generally handles their paperwork. He had no information on
the other two.

Miller declined to provide more details because the case is part of an
"ongoing investigation."

The Coast Guard reported last week that nine Cubans had died at sea
during a voyage to South Florida, according to Cuban migrants who were
rescued by a cruise ship near Marco Island, off the west coast of
Florida. The 18 survivors, who were taken to Cozumel, Mexico, said they
had tossed the bodies into the sea, according to the Coast Guard.

Also, in separate incidents last week, 58 Cuban migrants intercepted at
sea on several vessels were repatriated.

According to Coast Guard figures, so far this fiscal year, which began
Oct. 1, 2,562 Cubans have been intercepted, sighted or have landed in
Florida.

In fiscal year 2015, about 4,476 Cuban migrants were intercepted,
spotted or arrived by sea, the largest number in more than seven years.

According to the Coast Guard, uncertainty about a possible change in
U.S. immigration policy with Cuba has led to a larger number of Cuban
immigrants since President Barack Obama in December 2014 ordered the
restoration of relations with the island.

Follow on Twitter: @AlfonsoChardy

Source: Who shot 7 Cuban migrants? Wounded rafters say gunmen tried to
steal boat | Miami Herald -
http://www.miamiherald.com/news/local/immigration/article68525912.html