Yolanda: I was not a criminal, I just wanted to be free and happy
Thousands of Cubans are trying to swim across Florida Bay every year to flee from dictatorial Cuba to the spot nearest to the island – Miami. According to unofficial information, about 70 thousand people have already died trying to get to the United States.
Cuba signed an agreement with the USA in 1995. According to it, Americans were to give Cubans 20 thousand visas a year. The agreement is not in power anymore. There are new laws here now. You can be imprisoned for 3 years for trying to run away. If a refugee (they call them balseras) manages to step on the American land they will be accepted. However, if they are caught a few meters away from the beach in the water, poor runaways will be sent back home.
There are Cuban diasporas in 57 countries of the world. Cubans are even fleeing to Mexico and Haiti – one of the poorest countries in the world.
ERB’s witness of the week is a Cuban Yolanda Garcia Sanchos who has tried to run away to the USA by boat twice.
- Yolanda, could you please describe you first attempt to run away?
- I tried to run away for the first time in 2000. We were kept in an American boat for one week. When Americans catch Cubans who are trying to flee, they put refugees in their boats and keep them there. I was kept there for a week and then sent back to Cuba.
- How many people were there?
- There were 11 of us. I was the only woman. We set off from Havana.
- What did you use to swim across the bay?
- We had a wooden boat with a special cover so that the water would not penetrate the boat. We had bough it especially for escape. We simply chose the day to flee on. I knew all those people. Everyone arrived at the beach from different places on that night.
- Was it at night?
- It was. At about 11 p.m. It was very dark. It was very difficult to sail away. There were a lot of rocks in the water and high waves. We had prepared food and water. And we were keeping silent because we were trying to run away.
- How much time did you think the escape would take?
- We were hoping to reach the shore on the following night.
- What happened later?
- We were caught 20 miles away from the American land. We had entered the American waters by the time. It was about 60 miles away from Cuba. It was our first attempt to run away.
- Did you know what you would do in America?
- I did, I was going to find a job and to try to be free and independent.
***
- Where did you try to run away from for the second time?
- We set off from Pinar del Rio in a boat looking just like the previous one.
- How many people were there?
- There were 11 people too. It was in December 2003. The first attempt was on December 29 – it was my birthday. I was hoping to celebrate it in America.
- Did you set off from a beach again?
- Yes, from Kuhio beach. It was a motor boat. And we had problems with it. Then we were noticed. They did not send coastguards to us, they sent simple people in a boat. They were sent there deliberately and it looked like simple people were talking to us. And then a catamaran with coastguards and dogs approached us.
- Did they threaten you?
- The guards took out their weapons and started threatening us. We started shouting there was a woman in our boat. I was the only woman there. Then two more boats arrived.
- What all those boats were doing there?
- It turned out that the catamaran was near us and the other two boats surrounded ours and started shaking it to drown us. Their boats even clashed with one another. Everything was being done to make us sink.
- What did you feel at that moment?
- We were in a boat and we were scared. We started asking them to stop. They turned back after they had failed to wreck us. We could even continue sailing but the motor was damaged and the fuel was leaking from the boat. So we decided to head for the nearest coast.
- What happened when you returned to the coast?
- It was dark and coastguards were looking for us with lanterns. Those were the same people who had tried to drown us. They found us on the beach. They took us to the police office. I was kept there for a week.
***
- What were you asked about in prison?
- They asked a lot of questions about the place we had bought the boat and the fuel… They made us to sign a document where we had to promise not to try to flee anymore. I signed it because I had to. But I told them I would keep trying anyway.
- How were they treating you?
- They were treating me bad. One person (I do not remember his name) kept swearing at me. I told him I had tried to run away not because I was a criminal. I did not kill anyone. I just wanted to be free and happy.
- Who was in your prison cell?
- There were many people arrested for the same thing – they had tried to escape. We were let off one by one so that we would not create groupings outside the prison or the city, so that the state would not have any problems with us. Yes, I was delivered home.
- Did you know any people there?
- I did not know them very well. The people I knew tried to run away once more. And they succeeded. Now they live in the USA.
- As far as I understand, you have troubles with placement now. What do you live on?
- I don’t work. I have my pigs. I buy things and resell them. Anything. But I’m not a thief.
Cuba signed an agreement with the USA in 1995. According to it, Americans were to give Cubans 20 thousand visas a year. The agreement is not in power anymore. There are new laws here now. You can be imprisoned for 3 years for trying to run away. If a refugee (they call them balseras) manages to step on the American land they will be accepted. However, if they are caught a few meters away from the beach in the water, poor runaways will be sent back home.
There are Cuban diasporas in 57 countries of the world. Cubans are even fleeing to Mexico and Haiti – one of the poorest countries in the world.
ERB’s witness of the week is a Cuban Yolanda Garcia Sanchos who has tried to run away to the USA by boat twice.
- Yolanda, could you please describe you first attempt to run away?
- I tried to run away for the first time in 2000. We were kept in an American boat for one week. When Americans catch Cubans who are trying to flee, they put refugees in their boats and keep them there. I was kept there for a week and then sent back to Cuba.
- How many people were there?
- There were 11 of us. I was the only woman. We set off from Havana.
- What did you use to swim across the bay?
- We had a wooden boat with a special cover so that the water would not penetrate the boat. We had bough it especially for escape. We simply chose the day to flee on. I knew all those people. Everyone arrived at the beach from different places on that night.
- Was it at night?
- It was. At about 11 p.m. It was very dark. It was very difficult to sail away. There were a lot of rocks in the water and high waves. We had prepared food and water. And we were keeping silent because we were trying to run away.
- How much time did you think the escape would take?
- We were hoping to reach the shore on the following night.
- What happened later?
- We were caught 20 miles away from the American land. We had entered the American waters by the time. It was about 60 miles away from Cuba. It was our first attempt to run away.
- Did you know what you would do in America?
- I did, I was going to find a job and to try to be free and independent.
***
- Where did you try to run away from for the second time?
- We set off from Pinar del Rio in a boat looking just like the previous one.
- How many people were there?
- There were 11 people too. It was in December 2003. The first attempt was on December 29 – it was my birthday. I was hoping to celebrate it in America.
- Did you set off from a beach again?
- Yes, from Kuhio beach. It was a motor boat. And we had problems with it. Then we were noticed. They did not send coastguards to us, they sent simple people in a boat. They were sent there deliberately and it looked like simple people were talking to us. And then a catamaran with coastguards and dogs approached us.
- Did they threaten you?
- The guards took out their weapons and started threatening us. We started shouting there was a woman in our boat. I was the only woman there. Then two more boats arrived.
- What all those boats were doing there?
- It turned out that the catamaran was near us and the other two boats surrounded ours and started shaking it to drown us. Their boats even clashed with one another. Everything was being done to make us sink.
- What did you feel at that moment?
- We were in a boat and we were scared. We started asking them to stop. They turned back after they had failed to wreck us. We could even continue sailing but the motor was damaged and the fuel was leaking from the boat. So we decided to head for the nearest coast.
- What happened when you returned to the coast?
- It was dark and coastguards were looking for us with lanterns. Those were the same people who had tried to drown us. They found us on the beach. They took us to the police office. I was kept there for a week.
***
- What were you asked about in prison?
- They asked a lot of questions about the place we had bought the boat and the fuel… They made us to sign a document where we had to promise not to try to flee anymore. I signed it because I had to. But I told them I would keep trying anyway.
- How were they treating you?
- They were treating me bad. One person (I do not remember his name) kept swearing at me. I told him I had tried to run away not because I was a criminal. I did not kill anyone. I just wanted to be free and happy.
- Who was in your prison cell?
- There were many people arrested for the same thing – they had tried to escape. We were let off one by one so that we would not create groupings outside the prison or the city, so that the state would not have any problems with us. Yes, I was delivered home.
- Did you know any people there?
- I did not know them very well. The people I knew tried to run away once more. And they succeeded. Now they live in the USA.
- As far as I understand, you have troubles with placement now. What do you live on?
- I don’t work. I have my pigs. I buy things and resell them. Anything. But I’m not a thief.
