THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Monday, May 15, 1995 TAG: 9505150075
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A4 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: FORT LAUDERDALE SUN-SENTINEL
DATELINE: MIAMI LENGTH: Short : 41 lines
In the first case of suspected smuggling since the United States began returning Cubans caught at sea, the Coast Guard on Sunday picked up 23 refugees and one corpse from a disabled high-speed motorboat.
A 30-foot Wellcraft Scarab registered to a Hialeah man was spotted in the Florida Straits about 8:30 a.m. Sunday. The vessel - described by a Coast Guard spokesman as a ``go-fast boat'' - had set off a rescue flare.
``They were dead in the water, disabled, broke down,'' Chief Warrant Officer Dan Waldschmidt said.
Within 40 minutes, two Coast Guard cutters arrived to find the boat crammed with 26 people, including a crew of two Cuban nationals who had been granted resident alien status in the United States.
Among those on board was a dead 22-year-old woman. Authorities would not release information about the cause of her death.
The two resident aliens, Abel Eugenio Fuentes-Miranda, 21, and Jorge Niner, possibly 28, were taken into custody in Key West.
``Both are being detained in connection with possible smuggling,'' said U.S. Attorney Kendall Coffey.
The Wellcraft was registered to Everardo Nodarse of Hialeah, who could not be reached Sunday.
The 23 surviving Cubans - 11 men, eight women, three boys and a girl - were kept aboard a Coast Guard cutter, where they will be interviewed by INS agents to determine if any deserve political asylum.
Since President Clinton's decision May 2 to abandon a 35-year tradition of welcoming rafters with open arms, none has avoided repatriation. So far, 24 refugees have been returned.
KEYWORDS: REFUGEES CUBAN COAST GUARD by CNB