Posted on 02/10/2004 3:05:52 PM PST by nuconvert
Eight Cubans Caught on Floating Buick Returned Home; 3 in Limbo
The Associated Press
Published: Feb 10, 2004
MIAMI (AP) - Eight Cubans who tried to reach the United States in a 1959 Buick converted into a boat were sent back to their homeland Tuesday by the Coast Guard. A judge has not decided what to do with three others who were in the car. The Cuban family of three remained on a Coast Guard cutter at sea while a federal judge in Miami decided whether they have any right to enter the United States.
The group of 11 was intercepted at sea after being spotted aboard the tailfinned boat by a U.S. patrol plane off the Florida Keys.
Luis Grass Rodriguez, his wife and 4-year-old son are being treated differently because U.S. diplomats had interviewed him in Havana on a visa request after a previous attempt to reach the United States over the summer in a Chevy pickup truck converted into a boat.
With few exceptions, U.S. policy allows Cubans who reach U.S. soil to stay but turns back anyone intercepted at sea.
Ninety Cubans intercepted on three suspected smuggling missions in recent days have been returned to Cuba, authorities said.
Dunno, but those Soviet-made Zil limos were barely streetworthy, let alone seaworthy.
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