There is a resounding and effective technique to neutralize a rafter. The Cuban coastguard knows it well, because it is similar to fishing. You have to let the boat feel confident and its crew reach the high seas. The night swell is hard and capricious, so the boat moves slowly, bitten by remora and sargassum, while a dozen inexperienced men try to point north.
The American police catalogs keep a good inventory of these boats. An old fishing boat, with cardboard floats, that landed in the old Cayo Víbora. A sailboat with dirty rigs, with a belly loaded with thirty men and about to explode. Another, equipped with jute bags and plastic oars, unreliable even to cross a river.
The ship in which Yunier Gutiérrez Cervantes arrived this Wednesday at Fort Taylor, in Key West, follows the same pattern. An improvised shell, two square meters of zinc and sticks, with no other provision than a couple of gallons of water, in which Yunier traveled with seven companions.
Nervous about the 11J protests, the authorities did not take long to activate a rapid response brigade to fall, with machetes and sticks, on the town’s boardwalk
This time luck was on their side. There were no shots or chases, like the night of December 26, 2021, when a Cuban coast guard shot Yunier, above the right eyebrow, with a rubber pellet.
The images of the residents of Playa Baracoa, in Artemisa, are still preserved, while an improvised flotilla, made up of fishing boats, tried to march to the United States. Nervous about the 11J protests, the authorities did not take long to activate a rapid response brigade to fall, with machetes and sticks, on the town’s boardwalk.
When the gunmen arrived, they understood that they were not dealing with a civil disturbance, but with a celebration. Those on the coast wished the sailors luck and mocked the new arrivals. “They went to the face, I’m glad,” repeated a woman.
The boats were already a mile and a half from shore when the Griffith launch of the Border Troops appeared. The last of the boats, where Yunier was sailing, had difficulties and was left behind.
These were the perfect circumstances for a ramming maneuver. An iron keel, propelled by the powerful engine of the Griffith, manned by soldiers, against the starboard side of a rustic boat from Playa Baracoa. The assault would not last long.
During the yelling, an officer took aim at Yunier and hit him in the head. He was less than a meter away. There was nothing else to do
However, against all odds, the boat fought the boat and continued on its way. The Coast Guardsmen did their best to catch up with her and began to launch boarding ropes. Thus they tied one of the men, who fell into the water with burns on his neck and arms.
During the yelling, an officer took aim at Yunier and hit him in the head. He was less than a meter away. There was nothing else to do.
The captain of the coastguard launch pointed to the boy’s bleeding head and warned the others that they would meet the same fate. They were all arrested and, after a fine of 3,000 pesos, they were released.
A friend of Yunier Gutiérrez took a photo of him as soon as he came out: his face tanned by salt spray and a bandage around his head.
Eight months later, Yunier returned to the coast of Playa Baracoa with a new boat: the zinc and wood dinghy with which he intended to cross the 90 miles that separate his town from Key West. It was a heavy, hot journey.
The ship almost sank before reaching the Florida coast, but they arrived this Wednesday.
After a year of citations and police harassment, Yunier Gutierrez and the seven men who with him overcame the Gulf Stream are in federal custody. Walter N. Soslar, a border patrol agent who found the castaways, posted two photos of the empty boat, wrecked on the sand of Key West. Quite a trophy.
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