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Hahaha!: Cubans try to sail to Florida-in a '59 Buick


Dick Quickwood

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Cubans Sailing to U.S. in Car Caught by Coast Guard

Wed Feb 4, 4:47 PM ET

 

By Frances Kerry

 

MIAMI (Reuters) - A group of Cubans who tried to sail to the United States in a 1959 Buick car fashioned into a boat were intercepted at sea by the U.S. Coast Guard (news - web sites), relatives in Cuba and Cuban exiles said on Wednesday.

 

 

For four of the 11 people on board, it was not the first thwarted attempt to leave the communist island in a bizarrely converted vintage vehicle.

 

 

They had already tried last July to reach Florida in a vessel made from a 1951 Chevy truck, only to be picked up by the Coast Guard and sent home.

 

 

The Coast Guard intercepted the bright green Buick-boat on Tuesday during its journey over the 90-mile stretch between Cuba and Florida, exile groups said.

 

 

In Miami, the U.S. Coast Guard would not discuss the incident, saying agency policy was not to comment on migrant interdiction cases while they were in process.

 

 

There was no word on whether the group had been taken aboard a Coast Guard vessel or had tried to sail on once they were spotted by the Coast Guard. If picked up, they would likely be sent home, unless they could make a case for political asylum.

 

 

In Cuba, relatives of the six adults and five children -- aged between 4 and 15 -- on the Buick appealed to U.S. authorities not to send them home.

 

 

Usually, Cubans caught at sea are repatriated, unless they can prove they have grounds for political asylum. Washington's policy is to monitor repatriated migrants to make sure they are not punished for having tried to leave.

 

 

Those Cuban migrants who manage to make it to U.S. shore are generally allowed to stay.

 

 

Relatives said the group was led by Luis Grass, who was one of the 12 Cubans repatriated last July after the truck crossing attempt failed, and was seeking a visa for the United States as a political refugee.

 

 

SEAWORTHY BUICK

 

 

Their vessel, seen on images broadcast by Miami television stations, looked like one of the many stately 1950s American cars that still cruise the streets of Havana and other Cuba cities -- except that it was surrounded by ocean.

 

 

The group drove into the sea from a beach 20 miles east of Havana after dark on Monday.

 

 

"They sealed the doors and added a double bottom, steel plates for a bow and a propeller," said Eduardo Perez, cousin of Luis Grass, at his home in the Havana suburb of Diezmero.

 

 

He said it cost $4,000 to make the Buick, powered by its original V8 engine, seaworthy and pay for cellular phones used to help the look-out for police on the drive to the beach.

 

 

Grass, 35, his wife Isora and 4-year-old son, and Marcial Basalta, were aboard last July's attempt in a truck made seaworthy with 55-gallon drums strapped to the sides.

 

 

This time Basalta took his wife and two children with him in the Buick owned by a friend called Rafael, who left with his wife and their two sons.

 

 

The relatives in Havana called on U.S. authorities not to repatriate the occupants of the Buick, saying they would be punished by the Cuban government for trying a second time.

 

"The United States should have a little bit of compassion and value the determination of these people," Perez said. "They are clean people. All they want to do is live and work."

 

"On ingenuity alone, they should be allowed to stay," said Joe Garcia, executive director of the Cuban American National Foundation, a leading exile group.

 

Many in Miami's large exile population were outraged last July when U.S. authorities repatriated the 12 occupants of the truck, and sank the vessel, saying it was unseaworthy and if it were preserved might encourage copycat efforts. (Additional reporting by Anthony Boadle in Havana)

 

 

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http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=stor...m/cuba_car_dc_2

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Wow...that is badass

 

they should have granted them asylum simply on the basis that their "boat" was beyond coolness. imagine how much pussy you would get with that thing if you took it down to one of those college lake parties in arizona. big aquatic pimpin

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oh thats funny..you know wats really funny..they fucking trapped there..with no fucking freedom..controled by a latin verison saddam hussan..there lives are fucking controlled...bag a rice of month..cant do shyt say shyt..i would try to get the fuck out of there to wouldnt you...and you guys make that a fucking joke..im glad you fucking crackers think its so funny..

keep letting ur preists foundle you..

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Originally posted by bpts finest

oh thats funny..you know wats really funny..they fucking trapped there..with no fucking freedom..controled by a latin verison saddam hussan..there lives are fucking controlled...bag a rice of month..cant do shyt say shyt..i would try to get the fuck out of there to wouldnt you...and you guys make that a fucking joke..im glad you fucking crackers think its so funny..

keep letting ur preists foundle you..

 

 

evideintley they spel wrods diffrintly too

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Most people, and i hate to say this but most americans cant fathom the thought of escaping hostile lands, i mean,my family came here because our entire family was gettin gkilled during our country's civil war, it's not a way to live, you have to leave it and think about the future of your children and yourself....but yea, that's a hella cool boat.

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Originally posted by bpts finest

oh thats funny..you know wats really funny..they fucking trapped there..with no fucking freedom..controled by a latin verison saddam hussan..there lives are fucking controlled...bag a rice of month..cant do shyt say shyt..i would try to get the fuck out of there to wouldnt you...and you guys make that a fucking joke..im glad you fucking crackers think its so funny..

keep letting ur preists foundle you..

US Trade Embargo, dumbfuck.

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Thats just the way yall were brought up, naive

 

Ok wait up.

in a way, your guys are really displaying the sort of naiveness that white people are known for, and thus called crackers and white-boys/girls. I know that the few who responded dont represent all whites, but fuck, they can represent what everyone else sees them as.

Do yall realize that those people have nothing more than what they can fit imn their fucking carboat? they couldnt afford a plane ticket, and you laugh. they couldnt afford a boat ticket and you laugh. they couldnt afford a lawyer to become legal citizens of the US and you laugh at their misfortunes. You then blame THEIR countries politics for THEIR msifortunes.

white people. :rolleyes: :rolleyes:

 

and correct my spelling since I speak three languages that you probably think avtually makes me "lower" than you, unless I was a white guy that speaks three languages, then Id be "better" than you.

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***WELCOME 2 MIAMI***

 

Many people here in Miami make their money by picking some of my cuban people up in the ocean with boats....big bucks on the black market....59 buick boat...doesn't surprize me...in cuba they make cars using other car parts ( chevy engine, ford body, bmw transmission )..real gangster shit.......plus the hiphop scene in the island is fresh, if anyone has some cuban graff post it......BUMP BUMP BUMP..

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***WELCOME 2 MIAMI***

 

:D the best part is the Coast Guard aint got shit on my peeps....Ive seen live news coverage here of cubans jumping out of their boats as coast guards spray MASE at them with these water canons....they swam about over a mile, busted some moves and kissed the sand!..making them able 2 stay w/o getting sent right right back!...G Unit!!!!!

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Guest imported_El Mamerro

I lik the fact that they painted it bright NEON GREEN. It's like they were actually TRYING to get spotted on the water.

 

A couple of months ago 80-something Dominicans arrived in PR waters in a 35-foot boat (imagine how packed it was)... their color choice: hot pink and turqoise. Awesome stealth factor.

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Re: Thats just the way yall were brought up, naive

 

Originally posted by FuckWhitey

Ok wait up.

in a way, your guys are really displaying the sort of naiveness that white people are known for, and thus called crackers and white-boys/girls. I know that the few who responded dont represent all whites, but fuck, they can represent what everyone else sees them as.

Do yall realize that those people have nothing more than what they can fit imn their fucking carboat? they couldnt afford a plane ticket, and you laugh. they couldnt afford a boat ticket and you laugh. they couldnt afford a lawyer to become legal citizens of the US and you laugh at their misfortunes. You then blame THEIR countries politics for THEIR msifortunes.

white people. :rolleyes: :rolleyes:

 

and correct my spelling since I speak three languages that you probably think avtually makes me "lower" than you, unless I was a white guy that speaks three languages, then Id be "better" than you.

 

sounds like you're stuck in the past. I could careless that you speak 3 languages- to even begin to hold an entire race to a few comments made on here is idiotic, unrealistic, and at best STUPID. You knowing 3 languages might impress easily on teh surface, but you prove your ignorance quickly once you speak on a subject. Congrats mr. i speak 3 languages.

 

go feel sorry for everyone- stop paying for the internet and send a cuban some cash to get a plane ticket- better yet send them your entire paycheck instead of bitching online about how bad "whites" are. do something besides whine and if you're going to whine, atleast supply fresh cheese curds from wisconsin.

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i think its fucked up they sent em back. cause you know if they woulda kept sailing that it woulda got a media story and the guy that built his boat would become a millionaire cause there is plenty o people im sure that would shell out skrills for a lowrider car boat.

 

wasnt the president just running his mouth about how he wants to welcome imigrants.

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