Cuban migrants land on Mexican coast after 17 days at sea on rickety boat
The Associated Press
7:41 AM EDT, May 13, 2008
Cancun, Mexico - An attempt to reach Florida turned into 17 days at sea
for Cuban migrants crammed aboard a rickety sailboat that drifted ashore
in Mexico near the Belize border.
The migrants-- 12 men and two women --were severely dehydrated when they
landed Saturday and two of them had to be hospitalized, local deputy
police chief Didier Vasquez Mendez said.
``These people survived by a miracle. The boat was made of sticks, very
small and not seaworthy,'' Vazquez Mendez said Monday. ``Plus they ran
out of water.''
The migrants told re****ters they drank urine with sugar in their efforts
to survive.
The tip of Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula near Cancun is only 120 miles
southwest of Cuba. But the migrants landed in Xcalak, a town near the
border with Belize more than 180 miles south of Cancun.
The Cubans were detained by Mexico authorities, but most Cubans who
arrive in Mexico are released after being held 90 days at an immigration
center.
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/local/cuba/sfl-0513cubamigrants,0,5305291.story
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