Herald article today about human smuggling from Cuba through Mexico. The article does a good job in avoiding the elephant in the room which is how smugglers get in and out of Cuba without interference from the Cuban government, except for a brief mention of a case in which the Cuban coast guard shot a smuggler:
Earlier this month, a report from Cuba said border guards were closing down some beaches on the Isle of Youth in an apparent effort to thwart landings by smugglers. It added that the guards were looking for one particularly fast boat — outfitted with four outboard engines — known as Reina del Caribe, or Queen of the Caribbean.
Last year, the Cuban coast guard shot one smuggler to death and captured another who Havana media reported had confessed to helping a Mexico-based smuggling ring that charged him $20,000 to arrange his wife and child’s departure.
Of course if I was a despotic dictator profiting from human smuggling, I would make token catch every now and then too. No doubt the smuggler in question reneged on his “toll”.
We have dozens of these guys behind bars in the U.S., how is it that nobody has gotten the inside scoop about how these smuggling rings work?
Alfonso Chardy, get to work.
Oh, but you see, Henry, the Cuban government denies any involvement (just like it denies, among MANY other things, that there are any real dissidents in Cuba). It’s an OFFCIAL denial, after all. The government positively swears it’s righteousness incarnate. Why shouldn’t that be good enough for the Herald? It’s apparently good enough for the rest of the MSM.
Yeah, unfortunately the only government officials and statements that get questioned are from the U.S.
I wonder what percentage of the monies the smuggler gets after the dictatorship takes their cut?
I hear on the street that the Cuban government gives their coast guard boats only enough gas to patrol short distances for fear that their guards may use the boats to defect, as a result the Cuban CG cant cover large areas and smugglers can make it to their pickup spot pretty easy. I talked to a refugee who said that their boat was chased by a Cuban coast gauard a short distance but they coudlnt catch up to go fast boat. Also dont forget that the smugglers have contacts in Cuba that round up the boat people and they also may know the guards who are in charge of patroling the area. Also GPS technology now makes it very easy for a boat to get to the pickup spot.
P.S these comments are just based on what I hear at the local cuban bakery