US immigration agentsinterviewed 15 Cubans on a Coast Guard ship in internationalwaters off Florida today to determine if they should bereturned to Cuba, where they could be punished as hijackers, orbrought to the United States.
The sticky decision facing immigration officials over thefate of the Cubans, who were accused by Havana of hijacking agovernment vessel this week, was complicated by Cuba's recentexecution of three men for hijacking a ferry.
"It's a dilemma. One possible avenue would be to negotiatesomething with the Cuban government that these migrantswouldn't be executed in this case (if they are returned)," saidMax Castro, a Cuba migration expert at the University ofMiami.
Cuban-American US Reps. Lincoln Diaz-Balart, IleanaRos-Lehtinen and Mario Diaz-Balart, all Miami Republicans, senta letter to Secretary of State Colin Powell on Thursday urginghim not to send the migrants back to Cuba where they would face"the possibility of execution."
"We hereby request that the US government not becomecomplicit in what may become another series of illegalexecutions by the Castro dictatorship," they wrote.
The US Coast Guard said it boarded a stolen Cubangovernment boat on Wednesday about 60 miles (97 km) southeastof Miami and took all 15 occupants into custody.
The agency had tracked the vessel "Gaviota 16" throughBahamian waters as it headed for Miami, saying it believed theboat had been stolen from Cuba by migrants trying to come tothe United States.
The vessel, belonging to the state marine surveying companyGeoCuba, was hijacked in the port of Nuevitas on Tuesday,according to the Cuban government. In a statement that day,Havana asked the United States and the Bahamas to return bothoccupants and vessel.
The Cuban government has not commented since on the case.