Migrants endure loss of raft, collision with freighter in harrowing journey to Florida

Migrants endure loss of raft, collision with freighter in harrowing
journey to Florida

'I thought it was the end of me,' migrant says of perilous voyage from Cuba
Cuban rafter Michel Goris Suarez was certain of this: Death would meet
him at sea somewhere between Cuba and Florida.

Yet he was rescued after eight — or was it nine? — days during a
perilous journey that included a collision with a freighter that
capsized his fragile raft.

"I felt like dying," he said. "I don't think I'll ever experience
anything like this in my life."

Recovering at his uncle's Miami-Dade County home Friday, the 25-year-old
survivor detailed a harrowing, pre-dawn escape from Havana that nearly
claimed his life.

Also Friday, another six Cuban men made the journey to America, landing
in Manalapan, where they were taken into custody. Those with relatives
here will be reunited with loved ones; others will be relocated to start
new lives in a foreign yet longed-for country.

The group in Manalapan is the latest round of migrants to come ashore in
South Florida this week, arriving just two days after the dramatic
rescue of 33 Cubans in an overturned vessel about seven miles off Boca
Raton. About 50 total were rescued or washed ashore.

Suarez was among 11 Cubans rescued in Miami's Biscayne Bay on Monday.
Despite the nightmarish trek, Suarez said he'd do it again. For freedom.

After paying more than $400 to board a makeshift raft that would break
apart days later, the single man left his grandmother and aunt behind —
he never said goodbye — and set off on a trip he expected to last two days.

"That was our grave error," Suarez said. The homemade raft, made of
tires, Styrofoam and other flimsy material, became human powered after
its small engine broke down. The rafters used pieces of wood for oars;
Suarez's hands are still raw from paddling.

Within the first two days, in the early morning darkness, the raft
flipped over. They lost what little food and water they had. Suarez
chewed on shreds of plastic from water bottles. He sipped seawater to
quench his thirst. He got sick.

Days into the trip, in open sea, the raft was brushed by a freighter and
again tipped over. The migrants clawed back on and kept rowing. Lost,
the rafters were met with stormy seas. They shivered. They argued about
returning to Cuba. When they believed they had turned back, they saw
land instead.

The men decided to each fend for themselves, and abandoned the
dilapidated raft as it began breaking apart, Suarez said. The castaways
drifted apart from one another.

Suarez and a companion were left clinging to a piece of Styrofoam,
flotsam from the homemade vessel. They treaded water through the night.
Once, when Suarez felt faint and lost his hold, his pal kept him afloat.

"I couldn't handle it anymore," he said. "I thought it was the end of
me. No one wants to die, but then you come to your senses and keep
looking ahead."

Along with the flotsam, Suarez clung to his faith. He thought of his
mother and sister, who immigrated to France before he left Cuba. His
salt tears fell in the sea.

A vessel once came close, but never spotted the men screaming for help.
The group was eventually plucked from the water by pleasure craft and
Miami-Dade Fire Rescue. Two managed to swim to shore. Suarez mourns the
few fellow rafters still missing.

Faring better were the Cubans who paddled ashore in Manalapan on Friday.
They appeared to be in good condition, officials said.

They were taken to a Border Patrol station in Riviera Beach before being
released to Church World Service in Doral, Border Patrol Agent Frank
Miller said. They join at least 50 other Cubans who have appeared off
the South Florida coastline, from Miami-Dade to Palm Beach County,
during the past week.

Cuba's crumbling economy is one big reason for the uptick, said Jorge
Duany, director of the Cuban Research Institute at Florida International
University.

A limited number of visas also are prompting desperate Cubans to make
for Florida by sea. The approximately 20,000 visas issued in an
immigration lottery don't come close to the more than 500,000 people who
applied to leave the country, Duany said.

"A lot of people are looking to improve their conditions and they want
to migrate any way they can," Duany said.

Despite the danger, many take to the sea. But after years of navigating
the treacherous course across the Straits of Florida, an "increasingly
common" tactic, Duany said, is to plot a shorter path from the Bahamas
to Florida.


Cubans who don't make landfall in the United States are sent back home,
but the Cuban Adjustment Act allows those who arrive on American soil to
stay and apply for permanent residency after a year.

According to the most recent U.S. Coast Guard statistics, Cubans make up
the majority of migrants intercepted near the United States. From Oct. 1
through Oct. 20, there were 106 Cubans intercepted. During the same time
period, 30 Dominicans and 17 Haitians were intercepted.

A weakened Suarez still nurses swollen legs and sunburn-blistered skin.
Yet he wants to learn English, and is eager to work two or even three
jobs, once the memory of his ordeal subsides.

"It was horrible, it was a nightmare," he said. "I prayed so much to God
that I must find a church to praise him for keeping me alive. I know He
helped me."

Staff writer Mike Clary contributed to this report.

Source: Authorities searching for migrants after landing near Manalapan
- Sun Sentinel -
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/fl-manalapan-cuban-migrants-20141031-story.html