The US Government issued a deportation order against Cubans Daniel Beovides and Kenny Duke, survivors of the attack by Border Guard Troops against a rafters boat in Bahía Honda on October 27. Both young men managed to reach Florida this week by sea and are in custody, according to journalist Mario J. Pentón in AméricaTeVé.
The attack by the coast guard on the boat left seven people dead, including a four-year-old girl, and several injured. However, Cuban Television broadcast a reportage in which they accused the driver of the boat of having “turned sharply”, which caused the “unavoidable collision”.
Although several of the survivors accused the Border Guards of what they described as “murder”, they were forced to retract and offer a version of the event that coincided with the official one.
“They took us to Villa Marista,” denounced Beovides, “we stayed there for four days.” The young man regretted that State Security was the one who took care of them when the only thing they wanted was to leave the country, and they had not given any political overtones to their departure nor did they belong to any organization against the regime.
According to they counted to AméricaTeVé, the agents forced them to “change the story” of the ramming of the boat of the Border Guard Troops to the boat.
“The boatman, since his whole family was there [en la embarcación] the speed of the boat slackened. She was almost stopped when [sentimos] the impact of the Griffin.” “At no time was it as they said on Cuban Television,” Beovides assured. “At no time did the boat get in front of the Griffin. The boat was stopped.”
After the transfer of the survivors back to the Island, State Security systematically harassed their relatives and took control of the story, which was manipulated on National Television.
“They were watching us,” denounces Beovides, alluding to the agents of the political police. “We left in the morning for Santa Clara, from there we went to kilometer 259, and then to another side… We avoided them and hid.” Beovides and Duke managed to board a boat bound for the US from the “camps” in central Cuba and leave the country.
According to the immigration lawyers who advise them, it is possible to appeal the decision of the immigration authorities, since both have sufficient arguments to demonstrate “credible fear.”
According to the immigration lawyers who advise them, it is possible to appeal the decision of the immigration authorities, since both have sufficient arguments to demonstrate the “credible fear” of returning to Cuba.
The official reconstruction of the events in Bahía Honda indicates that the boat had 26 people on board and 13 15-gallon fuel tanks, although it was initially designed for six passengers. At 150 meters from the coast, with a swell of 0.5 to 1.5 meters in height, the Border Guard Troops collided with the boat.
The authorities affirm that the light came on the boat as on all occasions, but its driver, shouting “the Griffin is coming!”, accelerated sharply, which caused the propeller of one of its engines to hit the seabed and caused a turn of the boat. The Government assures that “there were no invasive or aggressive actions” and that rather the weight of the boat and the movement caused it to collapse.
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