|
|
|
|
News from the Caribbean as of
|
One dead as Cuba slams brakes on smuggling operation
Friday, April 7, 2006
HAVANA, Cuba (AFP): The Cuban government said Thursday it had halted a human smuggling operation along the island's southwestern coast, killing one smuggler and arresting two Cuban-Americans.
The interception took place at dawn Wednesday, when a speedboat from the United States entered Cuban waters and disobeyed orders to stop, according to a statement published by the official Communist Party newspaper, Granma.
"The smugglers responded in a defiant and aggressive manner, including by violently striking one of the border patrol's boats, which suffered significant damage and was in danger of capsizing," the statement said.
The leader of the border patrol operation ordered agents to open fire on the speedboat, the statement said. Two of the vessel's crew members were wounded, one of them seriously. He later died of his wounds, the statement added.
Some 39 people in the area were detained in connection with the operation, including 20 men, 12 women and seven children.
The majority of them, primarily women and children, were allowed to return home after making statements to authorities.
"The rest of the human trafficking operation's participants remain in custody while officials piece together what happened and who is responsible," the statement said.
The two smugglers in custody, Cuban-Americans Rafael Mesa Farinas and Rosendo Salgado Castro, were found to be carrying US passports showing they had been through Quintana Roo, Mexico, Granma said.
The paper did not give the name or nationality of the man who was killed.
In Washington, a State Department spokesman, asked about Cuban authorities killing of a US national, said "right now, we're in the information-gathering phase on this matter. (But) the initial reaction, without having all the facts at this point, is that this is a deeply, deeply disturbing action, and we are on top of looking into it.
"If you have an American citizen who's been shot and killed, I think that that is a deeply disturbing matter. And we would be very concerned about that," the spokesman said.
Asked if he were confirming the death of a US national in the incident the spokesman stressed: "No, I'm not. There's an 'if' in that sentence."
Back...
Most popular articles: viewed, printed and e-mailed
 Printable version
|
|
