2 Charged in Case That Left 5 Cubans Dead

A federal magistrate Monday ordered two alleged migrant smugglers held without bond on charges that they overloaded their 28-foot speedboat with at least 25 Cubans before capsizing in stormy seas, a fatal journey that ended off Key West.

U.S. investigators said last week’s tragedy in the 90-mile-wide Florida Straits left at least five people dead, among them a mother and her three children who were lost at sea. Rescuers recovered one body.

One of the survivors told U.S. Border Patrol agents that he was charged $8,000 for the journey from Cuba; another said he overheard one of the alleged smugglers say he expected to be paid $40,000 for the trip, according to documents filed in federal court here.

On Monday, the suspects, Osvaldo Fernandez Marrero, 35, and Roberto Montero Dominguez, 30, who were rescued along with 20 others by the U.S. Coast Guard and commercial vessels, told U.S. Magistrate Robert Dube that they were penniless.

Both appeared dazed. They said they could not remember their home addresses. The two men, Cubans who are legal residents of the United States, were charged with migrant smuggling for commercial gain. A spokeswoman for the U.S. attorney’s office said additional charges, including smuggling resulting in deaths, could be filed in the days ahead.

The case is the latest to emerge from the increasingly deadly and profitable Cuban smuggling trade between Miami and the Communist-run island, and it is seen by many here as a test of the Bush administration’s commitment to the United States’ “wet foot/dry foot” policy.

That policy, which allows most Cubans--and only Cubans--who reach America’s shores to remain in the U.S. while most who are caught at sea are sent back to Cuba, has come under strident attack from Havana. Cuba asserts that the policy serves as a magnet for migrants and a lucrative invitation for smugglers.

Cuban American leaders consider any migrant from Cuba a political refugee; U.S. investigators say most migrate for economic reasons.

After heavy Cuban American lobbying, federal officials sidestepped the policy in this case. Rather than keeping the survivors at sea until they could be returned to Cuba, officials brought all 22 to shore Friday. That will allow them to become legal residents.

Cuban American leaders in fiercely anti-Communist Miami heralded the decision as a victory. Several said it signaled that President Bush, who won Florida--and the presidency--last year with the crucial backing of Cuban Americans, will be more sympathetic to Cuban migrants than President Clinton. Bush’s brother, Jeb, is up for reelection as Florida’s governor next year.

But federal officials said the decision to “dry foot” the survivors was based on the need to use them as witnesses against the two suspects. Officials declined to comment Monday on how many--if any--have agreed to testify.

The president told reporters Friday that he intends to stand by the asylum policy.

In brief remarks in court Monday, prosecutor Curtis B. Miner called Fernandez and Montero “a danger to the community.” The criminal complaint against them alleges that they acted for profit “in reckless disregard” of their passengers’ safety and of federal law.

An affidavit filed by Border Patrol Agent Gary Unger stated that the two men picked up their human cargo on Cuba’s north coast and journeyed toward the Florida Keys in the middle of the night, until their speedboat capsized in 8-foot seas 20 miles south of Key West.

Coast Guard officials said the men made the journey despite the approach of the severe weather system that became Tropical Storm Barry. The officials credited the commander and crew of a passing freighter with the rescue.

According to officials, the crew of the freighter Claudia C heard screams for help in the water before dawn Aug. 1. The crew rescued 14 people and called the Coast Guard, which pulled in seven others along with one man who had drowned. A nearby research vessel located the final survivor in the water almost 12 hours after the speedboat overturned.

“Based on interviews with the survivors on board the [Coast Guard vessel] Seneca, at least one additional adult woman and three small children also went into the water when the go-fast boat overturned,” Unger said in his affidavit.

“These individuals could not be located in the lengthy search-and-rescue mission and are presumed to have drowned. Most of the rescued individuals were found in the water without personal flotation devices.”

Including the Aug. 1 shipwreck, the Coast Guard says it has intercepted 543 Cubans at sea this year. Most were sent back to Cuba. The Border Patrol says 1,921 others have made it to dry land since October.

Spokeswoman Aloyma Sanchez said that if convicted on charges of smuggling with deaths involved, the two men could face life imprisonment or death.