US repatriates eight Cubans rescued from boat

Friday, January 9, 2004

MIAMI, USA (AFP): US authorities on Wednesday repatriated eight Cubans who tried to take a small boat to the Florida coast, the US Coast Guard said.

The eight were rescued on Sunday night about 65 kilometers (40 miles) southwest of the Florida island of Key West by the cruise liner Brilliance of the Seas.

The United States normally sends back Cubans found at sea.

Since October, 2002, the US Coast Guard has intercepted more than 1,500 Cubans on small boats trying to cross the Florida Straits that separate the United States and Cuba.

The two countries have had not diplomatic relations since January 1961, months after Fidel Castro took power on the island. 

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