Two Men Plead Guilty in Fatal Smuggling Trip
Two men pleaded guilty in Miami to organizing a Cuban smuggling trip that ended when their speedboat capsized and a 6-year-old boy drowned.
Alexander Gil Rodriguez and Luis Manuel Taboada Cabrera could get up to 10 years in federal prison at sentencing Jan. 24 on conspiracy charges.
The men, both Cubans who had immigrated to Miami, loaded 29 Cubans onto a Florida-registered speedboat Oct. 12, including young Julian Villasuso and his parents. The boat tried to speed away after the Coast Guard intercepted it 45 miles south of Key West, but it capsized when the passengers moved to one side of the boat.
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