U.S. Residents on Trial for Smuggling
Two U.S. residents went on trial in Havana for smuggling people out of Cuba and face possible life sentences in a case the government has used to warn others against illegally transporting people across the Florida Straits. Joel Dorta Garcia, 27, and David Garcia Capote, 33, were arrested July 3 after the boat they were piloting capsized just outside Havana, killing one of their 11 passengers. The men, both Cuban emigrants, are accused of charging passengers as much as $8,000 each to smuggle them out of Cuba and transport them to Miami.
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