Makes the adventure sounds like a Lady or the Tiger gamble.

http://www.boston.com/dailynews/159/world/Cubans_who_didn_t_reach_U_S_sh:.shtml

Cubans who didn't reach U.S. shores have little choice Cuba or Haiti

By Michael Norton, Associated Press, 6/8/2001 19:18

CAP-HAITIEN, Haiti (AP) A group of Cubans whose boat sank this week before reaching Florida confronted a difficult decision Friday return to the communist island or stay in Haiti, the poorest nation in the hemisphere.

Some refugees say it's enough to be free of Cuban leader Fidel Castro. Others, with relatives in Miami, hope the United States will bend the rules and give them asylum.

''We would all prefer to die, rather than sent back to Cuba,'' 33-year-old physician Julio Cesar said in an interview in Cap-Haitien, 95 miles north of Port-au-Prince.

But the dozen refugees speak little of the Creole and French that are Haiti's national languages, they have no money, and they're unaware that Haiti's economy is near collapse and the country has been locked in a political impasse for more than a year.

The Cubans, all from northern Camaguey province and between 27 and 45 years old, left May 18 aboard a 17-foot raft.

Among them are five medical technicians, an economist, a factory quality control worker, a small farmer and a fisherman.

For seven days, they waited in the mangroves for a chance to slip by patrols.

No sooner had they set off than a Cuban helicopter swooped down, circling lower and lower until the chopper blades were barely 2 feet above their heads.

The aircraft didn't pursue them but the wind from its blades sucked their food out of the boat and pushed it onto a coral reef, damaging the motor.

Some 20 miles out to sea, they met another Cuban vessel that gave them some spare parts and supplies. On May 27, they reached tiny Cay Lobos island, still some 250 miles from Florida. The next day the motor broke down, they ran out of water and the boat began to drift.

On May 31, about 145 miles southeast of Miami, the weather worsened and their boat began going down.

''The boat would have sunk in three hours,'' said John Fenty, captain of the Haitian freighter Faith, who saved the Cubans.

Fenty continued his voyage to Haiti and on Wednesday, the Cubans came ashore and requested political asylum.

They all spoke of the deprivations of daily life in Cuba and political persecution. If repatriated, the Cubans face fines of $500) each or three years in prison.

Haiti's government has yet to decide on their asylum request.

Cesar said that if forced to choose between Cuba and Haiti, all of the refugees would choose Haiti.

Haitians frequently take to the sea in flimsy boats in hopes of reaching the United States. But their requests for asylum frequently are turned down. Cubans who reach U.S. soil usually get asylum.

This month, the U.S. Coast Guard said it repatriated 46 intercepted Cubans, while 77 made it to shore. Since October 1999, the Coast Guard has intercepted more than 1,000 Cubans and some 1,800 Haitians.

-- Anonymous, June 08, 2001