By Anthony Boadle, Reuters
HAVANA — After a lull following Fidel Castro's illness last year, Cubans
again are taking to homemade boats or speedboats manned by smugglers on
trips to the United States, often by way of Mexico.
Since May, the U.S. Coast Guard has been intercepting more so-called
"boat people" crossing the Straits of Florida in relatively calm summer
waters. U.S. Customs and Border Protection also has been processing
rising numbers at the U.S. frontier with Mexico.
This fiscal year, 2,819 Cubans have made it ashore in Florida, vs. 3,076
in all of last year, said Customs and Border Protection spokesman
Zachary Mann.
The number of Cubans intercepted in the Straits of Florida is likely to
exceed last year's 2,810, according to the U.S. Coast Guard. That was
the highest number since the 1994 exodus when the Coast Guard picked up
more than 35,000 people floating off Cuba.
Cubans coming across the 90-mile gap with Florida have tried it in
anything that floats and has a motor — from a hijacked fishing boat to
inner tubes tied together with a weed whacker as propeller.
To avoid another rafting crisis, the United States now sends back Cubans
intercepted at sea. Only those who make it ashore can stay.
The Coast Guard says fewer Cubans left last year when Castro handed
power to brother Raul.
To avoid interception and forced repatriation to Cuba, boat people are
now leaving on speedboats that ferry them 140 miles to Mexico's Yucatan
peninsula. From there, they make their way north to the U.S.-Mexican border.
Unlike other illegal migrants, Cubans at land entry points are
automatically paroled into the United States as political refugees. U.S.
officials say 89% of the Cubans emigrating illegally are entering via a
land border rather than the shore.
This fiscal year, 9,296 Cubans have entered the United States via land,
compared with 8,677 for all of fiscal 2006, said Jennifer Connors, a
Customs and Border Protection spokeswoman. "So there's definitely an
increase," she said.
http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/2007-07-30-Cuban_Migrants_N.htm?csp=34
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