Cuban balsero who spent a month at sea recounts how three traveling companions died.

Yuriesky Romero Hernández (Pinar del Río, November 25, 1990) survived more than a month at sea, drifting in a makeshift raft, eating raw fish and drinking his urine, until he reached the shores of Tamaulipas (Mexico), south of Texas. Along the way, he lost three of the six travel companions who accompanied him on the journey. Two drowned, and the third died of starvation.

Upon arriving in Mexico, the authorities of this country granted the castaways residency in a matter of days. Within a week, they crossed into the United States. They were treated as heroes because they endured 34 days at the mercy of the waves, on a Cuban raft, without food, without water, and with none of the ships that crossed their path coming to their aid.

His is a harrowing story and now, from Kentucky, he is urging Cubans who are considering doing the same as he did, leaving their children behind, to desist because there are more chances of dying or being sent back than of reaching their destination.

It all began at 10:30 AM on April 5, 2024. For Yuriesky Romero, it was his second attempt at illegal departure. The first time he had failed. While waiting in a wooden shack for the time to get on the raft, he saw, through the slats of the wooden walls, agents of the State Security who had been alerted to an illegal exit.

As planned, Yuriesky Romero and six other men boarded the sailboat and attempted to distance themselves from the southern coast of Pinar del Río, near La Coloma. In their attempt to get away from the shore, they asked local fishermen for help. Along the way, they saw an empty boat heading towards the Cuban coast that returned to the United States loaded with people. They signaled for it to tow them, as the calm sea suggested that the journey would be slow. They had water and food for four or five days.

From the very beginning, they had in mind to reach Mexico, but the Gulf currents diverted them from their goal. The GPS of seven cell phones pointed to a different location each; they lost a rudder at night and had to wait for dawn to throw themselves overboard to install the spare one. That was an odyssey.

The rafts knew that they were in open water because cruise ships and container-laden boats passed just a few meters away from them. None made any move to help them. Everyone looked the other way. No one assisted them.

After more than fifteen days adrift at sea, they saw a buoy, the kind that fishing companies place in the sea to signal areas where they fish. Two of the raft's crew members jumped into the water hoping to reach the buoy and trigger alarms for help. They did so and saw a drone approaching to see what was happening at the buoy. However, no one came to rescue them. The current was so strong that the raft could not get close to where they were, and they did not have the strength to swim back to the raft. They drowned, tossed by five-meter waves.

By then, there were four people left on the boat. They ate raw fish when they managed to catch something from the sea. As long as they had strength, they spent the day in the water, holding onto the raft to shield themselves from the sun. They drank their urine, pinching their noses because they had no potable water left.

But one of the four crew members did not want to eat raw fish or drink urine. Instead, he drank seawater and ate a tube of toothpaste. He looked weak. He died just a couple of days before reaching land. Although they didn't see sharks throughout the journey, only dolphins, they were afraid that if they left the body inside the raft, it would decompose quickly in the sun. They had no choice but to throw it into the sea. They watched it drift away because it didn't sink.

In the raft, everyone cried. Yuriesky Romero, in an interview with CiberCuba, acknowledges that, in his case, he cried because he thought he was about to pick up his son from school and take him with him on the raft. The child would not have been able to withstand the journey. Just thinking about it made him break down in tears.

Finally, one of those days when he no longer had the strength even to throw himself into the sea to spend the day in the water to shield himself from the sun, one of the survivors saw land. They knew that the coast was near because the raft was filled with birds during the day, which then left at dusk.

They arrived at a kind of cay and were assisted by fishermen. Their arrival caused a stir among the Mexican press, and the authorities welcomed them with open arms. A week later, they entered the United States.

Yuriesky Romero now lives in Kentucky. He knows that he has been reborn, and the only thing he can do is recommend to those who are considering it to give up. Not everyone makes it. Not everyone runs their luck.