Cubans Seeking Asylum Freed After Probe Into Miami Flight

Immigration authorities late Wednesday released a group of Cubans who had made a daring flight for freedom to Miami on Tuesday.

Authorities opened the gates of the Krome Detention Center at 10 p.m., releasing the Cubans into the waiting arms of their relatives or exile community groups who had anxiously stood watch outside the gate.

The Cubans were freed after being questioned for a second day on their claims for asylum and after an investigation into whether any U.S. laws were violated in the dramatic plane escape from Cuba.

As they embraced and hugged relatives, one of the escapees, Luis Manuel, explained that the group plotted their escape by using a code pretending they were planning a party not a mass exit.

Aero-Caribbean pilot Carlos Cansio and 47 passengers requested political asylum in the United States. Five other people opted to return to Cuba.

A Cuban plane landed Wednesday evening at Miami International Airport to pick up the five who had requested return passage to Cuba, said Federal Aviation Administration spokeswoman Anne Eldridge in Atlanta.

The five were returned in a Cuban escort plane, while a Cuban pilot flew home the Soviet-made turboprop that had landed the day before, said Marc Henderson, spokesman for the Dade County Aviation Department.