MIAMI, United States. — The Cuban regime offered this Tuesday its official version of the events that occurred on October 28, when a speedboat dedicated to human trafficking ended up sinking in waters north of Bahía Honda, Artemisa province.
Officials from the Ministry of the Interior (MININT) assured that the sinking of the boat, in which seven people died —including a little girl—, was due, in part, to the technical conditions of the boat, which was modified in order to transport to more people.
The boat that arrived from Florida to pick up the migrants (16 men, seven women) was a Concorde model boat, manufactured in 1989, registration FL 1768 RS.
Chronology of the event
Colonel Víctor Álvarez Valle pointed out that, before the arrival of a vessel from the Border Guard Troops, “the boatman gives power to the engines and, almost provocatively, gives more power to the engines.”
According to the officer, the boat, which had two outboard motors installed, may have suffered what is known as an “engine knock”, probably caused by contact with the bottom, even more so in the case of shallow waters.
Álvarez Valle reported that, before this maneuver, one of the vessels of the Border Guard Troops remained to the left of the speedboat, as established in the protocol for such cases, which already at that height maintained an errant movement with a tendency towards the left.
“There comes a time when the boat makes a sharp turn to the left and ends up capsizing almost in front of the Border Guard Troops boat,” said the MININT colonel, who assured that the speedboat would end up collapsing at any moment.
There was no boarding attempt.
The MININT authorities insisted that there was no other impact from the Border Guard Troops vessel.
“There was no aggressive or invasive action towards the boat by the coast guard,” said Álvarez Valle in his speech.
The space, published on YouTube by the platform cub reasonsa, State Security screen, also collected statements from one of the boatmen, who accused himself of the tragedy that occurred.
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