Cuban boat people

[4] During this time, the United States Coast Guard would make no attempt to turn back undocumented Cubans who were usually arriving in small boats.

After stages of these initial trips, Vice President Walter Mondale of the Carter administration served to justify this political position by stating there "is no better proof of the failure of Castro's revolution than the dramatic exodus which is currently taking place.

Even though President Jimmy Carter welcomed migrants in with open arms,[7][8] it was not well received, as the image of a criminal grew rampant among the public eye, even though it were only about 10-20% of them.

[9] After years of economic decline since the Mariel boatlift, a few thousand Cuban boat people had made their way to the U.S. in 1993 after a rise from a few hundred in 1989.

After riots ensued in Havana after threatening speeches made by Castro in 1994, he announced that any Cuban who wished to leave the island could.

[11] U.S. President Bill Clinton announced that any rafters intercepted at sea would be detained[12][13] at the Guantanamo Bay Naval Base.

[14] These "Balseros" (Spanish: rafters) as these boat people were known during this time, were known to wash up to shore at the Floridian coast on any conceivable thing that could float such as on wooden rafts or truck tires.

[14] A complaint was filed with the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights on July 19, 1994 regarding an old tugboat with 72 people on board, who were attempting to flee Cuba hours before dawn on July 13 [1994], who were attacked with pressurized water hose equipment just 7 miles off the coast of Cuba by 4 boats organized by the Cuban State.

The boat named 13 de Marzo, eventually sank with a death toll of 41, which included 10 minors after the cries of women and children for it to stop were in vain.

Days following the tragedy, the Cuban government was requested to recover the bodies from the bottom of the sea but declined citing the lack of experienced divers.

[20] Fearing that the end of the wet feet, dry feet policy was near after an announcement by Barack Obama in December 2014 regarding possible changes to the Cuban Adjustment Act, there was an increased concern by the U.S. Coast Guard about a possible spike in boat people, which they had intercepted an increased 117% more Cubans in 2014 than the previous year.

The journey across the Florida straits contains several risks such as sharks, rough waters, drug and human trafficking routes.