This past April, the U.S. Coast Guard reported that it did not intercept or pick up a single Cuban refugee in the Florida Straits. It was the first month in the past seven years where the Coast Guard did not come across any Cubans fleeing the apartheid Castro regime on rickety boats or makeshift rafts. This sudden stop prompted The Miami Herald to proclaim that the era of Cubans throwing themselves into the sea to escape misery, repression, and enslavement had come to an end:
U.S. Coast Guard says Cubans are no longer fleeing the island by sea
For decades, dramatic images of Cubans trying to reach the United States on decrepit boats made of all kinds of materials shocked many within the South Florida community. On the island, families waited desperately for news on whether loved ones had made it to shore.
No more.
In April, the Coast Guard did not intercept a single vessel ferrying Cuban migrants — the first time in seven years this has occurred.
The article goes on to attribute the sudden stop in Cubans fleeing by sea in large part to President Obama rescinding of the “wet foot, dry foot” immigration policy, one of his last unilateral concessions to Cuba’s murderously repressive apartheid dictatorship. That certainly makes a lot of sense and on the face of it, appears to be a reasonable hypothesis. Why risk your life in the treacherous waters of the Florida Straits only to be intercepted or sent back if you manage to reach your destination?
But this is Cuba we are talking about where reasonableness and logic rarely show their faces.
With April’s lull in the record books, so to speak, May came around and guess what? Cubans have resumed throwing themselves into the sea to escape misery, repression, and slavery at the hands of the murderous apartheid Castro dictatorship.
US Coast Guard repatriates 27 Cuban migrants
MIAMI, United States (CMC) – The US Coast Guard says the cutter Charles Sexton has repatriated 27 Cuban migrants to Bahia de Cabañas, Cuba.On Tuesday , the Coast Guard said the repatriation is the result of a migrant interdiction near Key Largo, Florida on Sunday.
“The Coast Guard helped secure the US border and prevent this sea voyage from ending in tragedy, we discourage anyone from taking to the sea and attempting to reach US soil illegally – they are risking their lives with very little chance of success,” said Capt Aldante Vinciguerra, chief of response for the Coast Guard 7th District.
“The Coast Guard and our partner agencies continue to maintain a strong presence in the Southeast and are ready to stop those who take the illegal, ill-advised and unsafe journey across the Florida Straits,” he added.
The Coast Guard estimates that 1,951 Cubans have attempted to illegally migrate to the US, via the maritime environment, since October 1, 2016, compared to 7,411 Cubans in fiscal year 2016.
The Coast Guard said these numbers represent the total number of at-sea interdictions, landings and disruptions in the Florida Straits, the Caribbean and Atlantic.
If there is anything to learn from this it is that we should never underestimate the misery and suffering of the Cuban people forced to live as slaves of an apartheid regime. Life without liberty and without rights will force a person to do unthinkable and illogical things, such as throwing yourself into shark-infested waters.
The usual suspects don’t care because they don’t think these Cubans deserve a better life than what they can have under Castro, Inc. Said suspects believe, or certainly act like they believe, that people in Cuba are far better off than they would be if the “revolution” hadn’t happened. Ergo, Cubans should be grateful for “free” crap and stop trying to rise above their lot in life.
A very similar argument could be made for American blacks: that they’re far better off than they would be if slavery had not happened and their ancestors had been left to themselves in Africa. But of course, that argument is never, ever made. Imagine that.