Thousands in Miami Mourn 7 Cuban Rafters Lost in Storm

Thousands of Cuban exiles filled the streets of Miami’s Little Havana on Saturday to mourn seven rafters who died off the Mexican coast and who symbolize the unknown numbers who have lost their lives fleeing Cuba.

The seven, including two children, died last month after their captain went off course and hit stormy weather. Eight of their companions survived and were rescued by the Mexican navy, only to be returned to Cuba.

After protests and boycotts by Cuban exiles in Miami and their representatives in Washington, Mexico relented and persuaded Havana to let the eight survivors leave Cuba.

Once in Mexico again, they were granted emergency humanitarian visas by the Clinton Administration and arrived Thursday to a heroes’ welcome in Miami.

The bodies of the seven dead rafters were flown to Miami on Friday, and have been the object of an intense outpouring of grief.

Initially, they had been buried in a pauper’s grave in Mexico, but later were exhumed and moved here, where some had families.

Hilda Perez, one of the survivors, told the throngs at the cemetery Saturday that “the people (in Cuba) know of the unity here. They know we are one people, ready to struggle.”

Record numbers of rafters have set sail during the past few years as conditions in Cuba have deteriorated. About 2,300 people arrived in Florida in 1991, 2,500 in 1992, and 1,700 so far this year.

Nobody knows how many have died at sea.

Thousands filed by the coffins at a funeral home at a wake Friday night and Saturday morning, and mourners formed a five-block cortege to accompany the coffins, draped in Cuban flags, to the cemetery.

A cemetery employee said an estimated 7,000 to 10,000 people attended the services, and funeral home employee Elva Becerra estimated that 20,000 to 25,000 people had paid their respects at the viewing Friday and Saturday.

The funeral also turned into a political rally.

Prominent Cuban exile leaders and Cuban-American lawmakers and politicians gave speeches and commentaries. A Spanish-language television station gave several hours of live coverage to the procession and funeral.