2 Alleged Smugglers Held in Drowning of 14 Cubans

Two men have been arrested in connection with the capsizing that left 14 Cubans feared drowned in the deadliest immigrant smuggling disaster in Florida waters, officials said Sunday.

Keith Roberts, assistant chief of the U.S. Border Patrol’s Miami Sector, said Francisco Gomez, 34, the boat’s owner, and Pedro Julio Guevara, 32, both Florida residents, were arrested on charges of trying to smuggle the Cubans into the United States after the speedboat was found capsized south of Miami on Friday.

The two men were among nine survivors of an accident in which a 30-foot “go-fast” boat, jammed with 23 people, capsized 22 miles southeast of Key Biscayne, an island off Miami, late Thursday.

The bodies of eight Cubans were pulled from the sea after the accident and the Coast Guard suspended its search for six others at nightfall Saturday.

Officials said a death toll of 14 would make the capsizing one of the worst known catastrophes in the decades of Cuban migration to the United States and the deadliest alleged immigrant smuggling case in Florida waters.

The Coast Guard said the nine people who were rescued had clung to the hull of the capsized boat all night. The group was spotted by a passing freighter earlier Friday, which brought the Coast Guard and Border Patrol to the scene.

“We immediately separated the group and began asking questions, and determined that they were the two who should be charged” with smuggling, Roberts said.

Border Patrol agents said investigators had trailed Guevara for eight months on suspicion of bringing in refugees for profit in high-speed boats.

U.S. officials said they believe the accident occurred during an attempt to smuggle 21 Cubans into Florida, noting that the speedboat was registered in the state.

If convicted of illegal-immigrant smuggling, Gomez and Guevara could face the death penalty or life imprisonment.

The maximum penalty for the federal offense is normally three years’ imprisonment, but the crime becomes felony murder if anyone dies during the smuggling attempt.

This year has seen a surge in the smuggling of Cubans into the United States. In the last three years, Washington has backed away from a decades-old policy of granting legal U.S. residence to virtually anyone from the Communist-ruled island, including thousands who fled on makeshift rafts and in tiny boats.

Thousands of others are believed to have died at sea during the 40 years since Cuban President Fidel Castro gained power.