Cubans Try to Reach Fla. in Floating '51 Chevy...

myway ^ | Feb 4

[PaulaB]

MIAMI (AP) - Two Cubans who tried to sail to Florida in a truck converted to a pontoon boat last year are making another attempt, this time piloting a seagoing 1950s-era Buick with nine other people, including five children, relatives said.

Marciel Basanta Lopez and Luis Gras Rodriguez, who were sent back to Cuba in July after they failed to reach Florida in a converted 1951 Chevy pickup, were allegedly at the helm of the newest vehicle-boat conversion.

The Coast Guard refused on Wednesday to confirm the status of the tailfinned car or the origin of photos of it in the water that were broadcast on television Tuesday. U.S. policy prevents the disclosure of information on such cases until they are resolved, such as by sending the participants back to their home countries, Petty Officer Sandra Bartlett said.

Under U.S. immigration policy, Cubans who reach U.S. shores are allowed to stay while those caught at sea are usually returned.

(AP) Luis Gras Rodriguez, rihgt, and his wife Isora Hernandez, left, and their son Angel are seen... Full Image

The Miami Herald said the 1959 Buick was nearly halfway to Key West by Tuesday evening. Key West is 90 miles from Havana, but it was not immediately clear where on Cuba the group had set out to sea.

Relatives in Cuba told Basanta's cousin, Kiriat Lopez, who lives in Lake Worth, that they knew the men were planning a second escape attempt.

"My cousin isn't crazy. He wants to be free," Lopez told the newspaper. "That's how crazy he is."

He said the group left Cuba on Monday night. "They've been waiting the past two weeks for good weather," he said.

In the Havana neighborhood of San Miguel de Padron, Gras' sister said she was awaiting news.

"They are very brave," Valentina Gras told the Herald. "When you are so sure of what you have to do you cannot be afraid."

Last summer, the two men were joined by seven other men, two women and one small child.

The Chevy pickup they used then was kept afloat by empty 55-gallon drums attached to the bottom as pontoons. A propeller attached to the drive shaft pushed it along at about 8 mph.

After the Coast Guard intercepted them about 40 miles off Key West, the pickup was sunk to keep it from becoming a hazard to other vessels.

[vetvetdoug]

I wish the USCG would quit sinking these gems. I am sure that they would sell well in the US and give the immigrants some significant revenue if we let them in the US. We let illegals from Mexico, Guatemala, and God knows where else, why not Cubans that want our freedom and not just our money (like the wetbacks from Mexico)?

[P.O.E.]

Supercaaaaaaarrrrr.
Suupercaaaaaarrrr

[vetvetdoug]

That looks more like a '59-60 Chevy than a '51 IMHO.

[petercooper]

Let 'em in. At least they're creative.

[Bluntpoint]

If they would have just kept the volume down on truck's stero they would never have gotten caught.

[Guillermo]

"They are very brave," Valentina Gras told the Herald. "When you are so sure of what you have to do you cannot be afraid."

[Blzbba]

These guys are illegal too.

[TigersEye]

Pardoname, el Presidente. Por que no amnestia para los Cubanos?

[FourtySeven]

Ok. Maybe I didn't read the article well enough, but.....

the first time, these guys stuck the pickup on a raft, so they could use its engine to power a rudimentary propeller, I think, if memory serves. BUT, HOW did they get just this CAR to float? I don't see any obvious signs of a raft?

Am I missing something?

[Beenthere1]

Yup. That's 2. The first was a Chevy. This is one is a Buick. Don't know where to start, their ingenuity, thirst for freedom or perseverance. The Cubans, that is (not the autos).

[Guillermo]

55 gallon drums, under the car.

[Old Professer]

This is nothing; once they get there, they will sublet the basement to some poor people.

[Old Professer]

4,000 ping-pomg balls and a really big hairnet.

[Old Professer]

I'm going to have to glue a toothpick between my n and m keys.

[Blood of Tyrants]

They need a faster car - ah - boat - er - sea going vehicle.

[headsonpikes]

Comes the Revolution, and El Cigarro is gone, I fearlessly predict a regular circuit of Straits-Runners slicing the waves in '50s-era conversions. It'll be on cable.

I'd watch that!

[Britton J Wingfield]

filling the voids with expanding foam would work really well.

[humboldtconservative]

Eduardo Perez Grass (R), nephew of Luis Grass, talks to Reuters about his uncle's latest attempt to leave Cuba as Andres Lester looks on in Havana, February 4, 2004. Luis Grass, along with nine other men and their wives and children, left Havana on February 2 trying to reach Florida in a 1959 Buick converted into an amphibious craft, after their first attempt to flee Cuba in a Chevrolet truck failed in July, 2003. Perez Grass and Lester were among those who tried to flee the island in the first occasion but stayed back this time due to lack of space in the Buick. REUTERS/Rafael Perez

---

Lack of space???

[Guillermo]

Kinda tells you how great Cuba is, eh?

Why people would want to leave such a Workers Paradise, with 99% literacy and Free Health Care is beyond me...

[moonhawk]

If ever an illegal immigrant deserved to stay....