The Cuban Adjustment
Act, a pillar of US policy against Cuba, has claimed 31 more victims,
reported Granma newspaper on Thursday.
In an official government statement, Cuba condemns the people smuggling
encouraged by the "wet-foot, dry-foot" law under which
Cubans who are able to illegally reach US soil are allowed to remain
and given residency.
In the latest tragedy, on Aug 21, two Cuban women and a man were
rescued at sea about 30 miles north of Matanzas by an Antigua merchant
ship. The three people were found clung to the hull of a capsized
speed boat and taken immediately ashore in Cuba, where they receive
medical assistance.
According to the survivors, on the evening of August 16 a group
of 32 people, 24 men and 8 women, were picked up on the island's
northern coast by contracted smugglers in a speed boat coming from
the US. The vessel was designed to carry only 10 people.
Around 20 nautical miles offshore, the boat's overloaded engines
failed and the rudder broke. The survivors said that by early on
the 17th, the vessel had taken on water and the two smugglers ordered
the people to jump in the sea. Amidst total confusion, the passengers
piled up on one side of the boat, which suddenly capsized.
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As soon as the first
news reached the Cuban Coast Guard, search crews were dispatched
by air and boat. Cuba also notified the US Coast Guard Service on
the accident, and they joined the search.
No other survivors have been found.
Cuban authorities have repeatedly warned the US government on the
increase of criminal smuggling operations between the two countries
encouraged by the US immigration policy, says the official note.
Cuba says Washington's policy has resulted in an endless number
of men, women and children dying at sea over the last four decades.
"We hold the US government responsible for the death of 31
people," says the document, "and once again we call on
the US to put an end to people smuggling organized and financed
from that country."
Havana further demands the US "eliminate the criminal Cuban
Adjustment Act, which is not only the main encouragement to illegal
immigration but also a flagrant violation of the Migratory Agreements
signed between Cuba and the US in September 1994," concluded
the government's statement.
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