On July 11, 2021, protester Yariel Alfonso Puerta took refuge in Canada after leaving the island on a raft and spending 11 months at the Guantanamo Naval Base, reports television channel AméricaTéVe.
After being intercepted at sea, the 27-year-old was able to pass his credible intimidation interview with the US Coast Guard. A few days later he was transferred to the Guantanamo Naval Base.
“I have been a political prisoner since July 11. I am going to the United States because I do not want to continue in a dictatorship,” Cuban said as he left the island in a rustic boat. “When I lost communication with my mother and I was left alone at sea, it was difficult, but I always believed that I would make it. My only fear, honestly, was returning to Cuba, ”expatriate now from Canada declared.
“The treatment of the US Coast Guard was excellent. When I saw that day that I was in the middle of the ocean, that it was water towards the four cardinal points, my soul came into my body because I was being rescued by United.” States,” said Alfonso Dorr.
Rafter thanked everyone who was observant and collected signatures so that they could not return him to Cuba. “I spent 11 months and three days at the Guantanamo Naval Base. We have a normal life there, like anyone else. It’s no secret to anyone that there are McDonald’s, there are hospitals. We are not prisoners, we sleep with air conditioning In the rooms and we have good food,” the expatriate told of his stay on the US-administered territory of the island.
“I never thought of coming to this country (Canada). I never thought it would be such a good country. There is always talk that it is very difficult to enter. As there were many countries, I Didn’t think Canada would welcome me.” I plan to go to work so I can go see my son and bring my mother with me,” the 9/11 protester concluded.
The 27-year-old spent 38 days in jail following the 9/11 protests, then was released on bail pending trial. “I had to appear in court to receive an answer to the appeal. On the same Friday when I was already sailing, they sentenced my other colleagues,” said Alfonso Puerta, while he was still in Guantanamo.
Cuba later recalls his trip to Mexico
After another Cuba, Yosvany Hernandez lived in Cancun, Mexico, for five months, and now tells the story of his eventful journey to local channel TV Azteca Campeche.
The 24-year-old native of Ciénaga de Zapata met with friends and family to build a raft that would allow him to leave Cuba. The Diario de Cuba reported the disappearance of these rafters in January.
“We all agree. There is a certain amount of money to be able to create a rustic atmosphere because everything is very expensive. The engine cost us 200,000 Cuban pesos, the wood 60,000 pesos, the nail about 14,000 pesos, the epoxy paint we used 20,000 pesos Use…hiding in the mountains, we have built a boat. To get out, you have to put it on top of a horse-drawn carriage hidden from the police, and throw it into the sea to start the journey.”
The journey of about six days to reach Mexican soil would have been prolonged due to complications with the boat’s engine. Hernandez said he spent days of terror in the boat where 14 people were traveling, including boys, girls and the elderly. He said, “We were left without engines and we spent 25 days at sea. We lived under sail and the wind carried us from one place to another. Out of those 25 days, we spent five days without food.”
Hernandez thought that the raft was about to capsize because of the high waves. They usually killed the group at night, fearing that they would starve for little food. “The most complicated thing was on the 16th (probably in January), because a north (wind) entered us and we spent two nights and two days without even sleeping because the waves were five or six metres. We only had sails. At that time, we thought these were our last nights. The currents did not allow us to move forward and the water entered the boat. We got drenched in the night, we got cold,” explained the migrant.
Twenty-five days after leaving Cuba, the group was rescued by fishermen from Progreso Municipality, Yucatán State. Now Hernandez has a job as a private security officer at a shopping mall in Cancun. “We like Cancun because it gives us opportunities. Mexico is a free country and you can express your political views. In Cuba they don’t allow that; you’re discriminated against when you express them.” goes,” Hernandez concluded.
