APP GRATIS

Cuban fisherman who saw rafters near Key West speaks: "The only thing I could do was encourage them"

"I couldn't help those people, I could throw water at them, but I couldn't tow them or put them on my boat because they would get into illegal human trafficking."


The Cuban-American fishermanDairo Alfonso Paes regretted that the group ofraftsmen who were seen last week at sea when heading towards Florida have been deported.

In a short video shared on his accountTikTok, Dairo remembered when he was fishing verynear Key West and saw a boat with 16 people and he did the only thing he could do: encourage them to continue.

Upon returning from fishing and the next day, he scoured the coast looking for the boat and when he did not find it, he realized that they had been captured and returned to Cuba.

"Nothing was ever said here on the key that some rafters had arrived, every time they arrive the ball is spread," he said.

When the news broke of the return of migrants and he saw the photo of the boat in some media, he verified that it was the same one he had seen at sea.

"I couldn't help those people, I could throw water at them and stuff, but I couldn't tow them or put them on my boat. because they engage in illegal human trafficking," he clarified.

"TheyThe only thing I could do was encourage them and tell them to go straight, they were three miles away."he explained.

The fisherman regretted that his compatriots had been returned to the Cuban dictatorship.

Last Friday, theUnited States Coast Guard (USCG) repatriated the 16 Cuban rafters who were detained very close to the Florida Keys and whose journey had gone viral on social networks.

According to an image posted by the USCG on Twitter, the rafters traveled in a homemade boat made of polyfoam sheets and a motor.

Dairo had published a video on TikTok on April 7 with images of the moment in which he and a companionThey discovered the presence of the rafters in the sea and began to shout at them: "Don't stop, continue straight, they are arriving. Don't fucking stop, keep going straight."

He explained that they could only give instructions and words of encouragement to the rafters, because in US waters it is not allowed to approach the boats or offer any other type of help.

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