I like the dreams of the future better than the history of the past.
Thomas Jefferson
Back in 2005, on Good Friday, I met Julio Zangroniz under some pretty cool circumstances. He was at the Dry Tortugas, doing a diving photoshoot, when a group of Cuban rafters landed on the remote island. You can read his report right here.
It seems that more and more Cubans have been arriving at Fort Jefferson seeking freedom, some on their own as rafters, but many more as cargo for smugglers. NBC 6’s Hank Tester has a report right here.
It’s ironic how the Cuban refugees left the big prison of the island of Cuba to seek shelter in Fort Jefferson, a former federal prison.
The National Parks Service website states:
http://www.nps.gov/drto/
“Fort Jefferson served for a time as a remote prison facility. One of its most famous inmates was none other than Dr. Samuel Mudd, who set the leg of John Wilkes Booth following the assassination of President Lincoln.”