Florida Keys are a Haven for Smugglers of Cuban Migrants

Florida Keys are a Haven for Smugglers of Cuban Migrants

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ISLAMORADA, Florida -- Bound at the wrists and ankles, a Cuban man accused of smuggling a boatload of his countrymen from the communist island to U.S. shores is loaded off the deck of a Coast Guard Cutter and onto a small, swift vessel that whisks him to the Florida Keys.

There, customs and immigration officials await his arrival at Coast Guard Station Islamorada beneath a picnic shelter used as an impromptu interrogation center. The suspect -- a resident Cuban alien -- is questioned about the knife, bullets and camouflage flak jacket found in his boat, not to mention the 27 Cubans crammed into his small, dilapidated speedboat.
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Still wearing a Coast Guard life preserver, he claims he's part of a revolutionary group hoping to topple the Castro regime, a story none of the Coastguardsmen are apt to believe.

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