Missing Dominican boatpeople doing forced labor in Cuba

Missing Dominican boatpeople doing forced labor in Cuba

Santo Domingo.– A total of 96 illegal Dominican boatpeople who set out
on November 13, 2008, for Puerto Rico, are being forced to work in
sugarcane plantations in Cuba, family members said.

According to Eriko Cuba, spokesman for the migrants' relatives, the
group left on a "yola" from the coast of the northeastern town of Samana
but was forced to land in Cuba due to rough weather while crossing the
Mona Passage, which separates the Dominican Republic from Puerto Rico.

Eriko said that on Tuesday Wellington Mayobanex Aquino Suarez –one of
the illegal migrants– telephoned police in the Dominican town of Villa
Riva, where most of the group is from, so officers could inform their
relatives of their situation.

The spokesman said that based on the information he has received some of
the undocumented migrants –officially listed as missing by Dominican
authorities– were carrying weapons and drugs and that could explain why
they were detained on the neighboring island.

Missing Dominican boatpeople doing forced labor in Cuba -
DominicanToday.com (2 January 2010)
http://www.dominicantoday.com/dr/local/2010/1/2/34363/Missing-Dominican-boatpeople-doing-forced-labor-in-Cuba