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Cuba sentences 7 human traffickers as smuggling to U.S. surges

Xinhua, February 17, 2015 Adjust font size:

Seven human traffickers were convicted for killing four of their clients destined for the United States, Cuba's state daily Granma reported Monday, as human smuggling to the United States surges after the two countries announced rapprochement in December.

Jorge Luis Salazar and Reinier Armas Garcia received life sentences, and their five accomplices received jail terms of eight to 25 years.

The convicted had promised to smuggle a group of 11 Cubans into the United States. Instead, they robbed them and killed four on the day of departure on June 7, 2014.

Such incidents are not uncommon in Cuba, but are rarely, if ever, reported by the official press.

Observers believe the government may be trying to warn potential victims of the risks involved at a time when illegal flights have spiked following the U.S.-Cuban detente.

Cubans looking to emigrate fear normalizing diplomatic ties may lead the United States to suspend its current policy of granting residency to any Cuban who sets foot on the American soil.

On Jan. 29, less than two months after the joint U.S.-Cuba announcement on Dec. 17, the U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) agency reported a 60-percent increase in the arrivals of Cuban immigrants, via rafts, across the Mexican border, or from other countries.

While Cubans have been relatively free to travel abroad since 2013, they still have difficulty obtaining visas from destination countries after 50 years of severe restrictions.

Although the distance between the FLorida Keys of the United States and the north coast of Cuba is only 144 km wide, many Cuban people pay as much as 8,000 U.S. dollars to human traffickers and risk their lives to reach the U.S. coasts by rafts or speedboats.

Cubans caught at sea trying to sneak into the United States, even if just meters from shore, are turned back, but the ones who set foot on the U.S. soil can stay.

Cuba has long campaigned to have Washington repeal its controversial "wet foot/dry foot" policy, saying it encourages dangerous illegal migration and the smuggling industry that takes advantage of it. Endi