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July 10, 2006
Cuban refugee died in mad dash to freedom in America.
Cuban refugees arriving in crowded boats during 1980's Mariel Boatlift crisis.You have to love how some people get on the television to justify unconscionable actions. One of the big stories in South Florida this weekend was about how a refugee speedboat filled with Cuban expatriots drove Coast Guard authorities on a wild goose chase across twenty eight miles of the Straits of Florida, resulting in the death of refugee Amay Machado Gonzalez from blunt trauma to the head and the injury of four others. Give our CBS affiliate some small bit of credit for allowing the Coast Guard and INS some freedom to express the authorities' point of view in the matter.
For once, my feelings go out to the government. Channel 4 interviewed a "representative" for the refugees' families who claimed that the boat was not a smuggling operation but paid for by the families of the refugees. He also expressed that the refugees had legitimate asylum because if those that brought children went back, they would lose their children to the Castro regime based on apparent new laws put forth by Castro.
In not asking two crucial questions of the Cuban-refugee-representative, WFOR fell short:
1. If the "rescue operation" was legitimately sanctioned, why did the expensive speedboat, laden as it was with 31 migrants, try to escape from the authorities? (In the latest news, the smugglers say they 'wanted to stop, but the refugees forced them to try to escape the Coast Guard.)
2. How do you expect our government to consider asylum based on persecution you wouldn't be facing unless you managed to try for escape?
Instead, the news focused on the death and the Coast Guard's repeated claims that they had nothing to do with her death (Monroe County Medical Examiner said it was consistent with her striking the boat) despite the fact that the Coast Guard fired gunshot repeatedly in the direction of the boat (not injuring anyone with it).
Sometimes the knee-jerk reaction of self-proclaimed "advocate" organizations goes beyond rationale. Expect the Cuban community in South Florida to be up in arms about the "mistreatment" of refugees by the governmental authorities.
Don't be too surprised to hear it become a campaign hot topic in the coming days. I'm looking forward to hear Katherine Harris proclaim loudly that the Coast Guard persecutes Cuban refugees and Senator Bill Nelson therefore hates Cubans. And don’t be too surprised if a large number of the Spanish-speaking population in Miami Dade County believe her.
Posted by Bastique at July 10, 2006 8:00 PM