Carnival Dream Cruiser Rescues 39 Cubans
HAVANA TIMES — The Carnival Dream cruise ship rescued Wednesday 39 Cubans in the Caribbean Sea traveling in a small boat, reported the Nola.com website.
The group of desperate Cubans was composed of 34 men and five women. They were brought aboard and evaluated by the medical staff of the cruiser and given food, water and clothing, the company said in a statement.
The Carnival Dream was heading to Jamaica with 3,646 passengers on board when the crew saw the small boat and its occupants “in trouble.” The migrants will most likely be returned to Cuba.
Vance Gulliksen, a spokesman for Carnival, said that such rescues have become frequent in recent years.
Apparently conditions are more desperate in Honduras, Guatemala, Mexico, El Salvador, and most of the rest of Central America. More folks, comparatively speaking, make their periilous journeys North from these nations than from Cuba. As one immigrant , accompanied by his 14-year-old son, stated, “There is no work, gangs are murdering my neighbors with impunity, life is hopeless (back home in Honduras); that is why I am going to the U.S.” [from the recent Al Jazeera series on undocumented immigrants. The Honduran and his son were walking along the railroad tracks, since he deemed it too dangerous to ride the rails on “La Bestia,” since so many immigrants have been shaken down and/or murdered by gangs or by Mexican police].
Thanks to N.A.F.T.A., small and subsitence farmers have been ruined, as have small- and medium-sized businesses throughout Mexico and Central America, and the only hope for these folks is to immigrate to the U.S.A. At least Cubans can eat–even if mostly rice and beans–have free education, elementary through grad. school, have free medical care, etc. and, most importantly, live in comparative safety, not terrorized by street gangs or drug-cartel thugs so characteristic of Mexico, Central America, Columbia, etc.
Finally, when Central Americans do attempt to do something to improve their political and economic conditions, as was the case in Honduras, the U.S. facilitates the overthrow of any reformist political leaders.
Once again, these Cubans, like many thousands of other Cubans like them, obviously live somewhere other than the Cuba where HT writer Elio Delgado Legon lives. Thankfully, this story did not end in tragedy for them. Prior to risking their lives in their attempt to flee Castro’s tyranny, they should have contacted HT commenter and Castro apologist Walter Teague for a better perspective of how good they have it in their ‘socialist paradise’. I dare to use sarcasm to illustrate my point that the real proof of the success in the Castro revolution is not found in trumped up statistics like infant mortality and literacy rates or voter turnout but in the flesh and blood reality that people continue to be willing to risk their lives at sea in order to live better somewhere else. Raul’s tepid ‘reforms’ are not changing lives. What Cubans need is freedom. Unfortunately, as long as the Castros are in charge things are not likely to change.