Havana/Yaquelin Domínguez-Nieves, the Cuban who declared himself guilty for the death of 16 Balseros in 2022, was sentenced to seven and a half years in prison by a federal court in Miami. He failed He was informed this Friday by the United States prosecutor in southern Florida, who recalled that the citizen of the island, 25, resided illegally in the country.
“The American district judge Beth Bloom imposed a higher sentence than that recommended by federal consultative judgment due to the severity of the crime,” the statement details. The case, he explains, is part of an operation called Take Back America (‘Recover America’), dedicated to “repel the invasion” of illegal migrants, eliminate cartels and criminal organizations and protect the communities of violent crimes.
According to the office, Domínguez-Nieves participated “for profit to illegally smuggled” to 18 Cubans by boat from Cuba to the USA. On the way, which was made in 2022, 16 of the Balsers died drowned, including children between nine months and seven years old, in addition to two adolescents of 16.
The Cuban arrived in the US in October 2022, and just a month later he organized with her boyfriend the trip of the 18 Cubans
The document also recounts the facts. The Cuban arrived in the US in October 2022, and just a month later organized with her boyfriend the trip of the 18 Cubans. “They would charge the entrance. In the previous weeks, for example, Dominguez-Nieves charged more than $ 11,500 to relatives of the southern Florida of the Cuban immigrants who were going to be smuggled,” explains the text.
In previous reportsthe US authorities had specified that Domínguez-Nieves sent the money to an accomplice in Havana, without making his name known and it was he who was responsible for organizing the trip. A relative of one of the victims also claimed that they had asked for $ 6,000 for the boat.
On November 16 of that year the boat sailed with the Cubans on board and, in the reconstruction of the events – providing testimonies of the survivors – it was confirmed that in the fishing boat it only had capacity for eight people. “According to two survivors, the ship was too small for 18 people, they didn’t wear life jackets and their captain seemed not to know what he was doing,” the statement clarifies.
The lifeless bodies were transferred to the Office of the Forensic Physician of the County of Monroe, in the Florida Cays
Arturo Verdecia, father of one of the balsler, told Telemundo –In June 2024 – that your son embarked on the boat with the name Alba And he sailed from Playa Jaimanitas, in Havana, but “not with six people, as he had assured.” Three days after the shipwreck, some researchers told him that they had found their son lifeless.
In his story he identified a survivor Alexander, who was rescued by a second boat. According to the seventh district of the Coast Guard, the survivors reported having seen four people “drowning immediately.”
The lifeless bodies were transferred to the Office of the Forensic Doctor of the County of Monroe, in the Florida Cays. Five other bodies were found later by teams of the American Coast Guard. While Alexander Piloto was returned to Cuba.
Last January, in front of a Florida court, Domínguez-Nieves declared himself guilty of the crime of “conspiring to smuggle immigrants” to the United States, after being accused of 10 positions related to illegal migration.
