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The landing Wednesday comes amid heightened Coast Guard security and a few weeks after four Cuban coast guardsmen also sneaked into Key West by boat.
©Associated Press
March 2, 2003
KEY WEST -- Six Cuban migrants landed their homemade boat on guarded U.S. Navy property this week, then wandered this city's downtown streets before authorities caught them, officials said.
After beaching the boat Wednesday, they sprinted past the house of the Navy's top officer in the Keys and scaled a fence, U.S. officials said Friday. Police later found them drinking beer and phoning relatives on a busy street.
Naval authorities were alerted to the boat by an off-duty Navy police officer, said Cmdr. Pete Fyles, executive officer of Key West Naval Air Facility. The officer was fishing on another vessel when he saw the boat head toward Navy property.
Cameron Hintzen, a U.S. Border Patrol spokesman, said the Cubans claimed they had departed from Mariel on Cuba's north coast less than a day before their arrival in Key West.
The migrants' names have not been released. Border Patrol and Navy officials did not return phone messages Saturday seeking further comment.
Cubans who reach U.S. soil are generally allowed to stay, while those intercepted at sea are normally repatriated.
The landing comes despite heightened Coast Guard security around Key West. Earlier last month, four Cuban coast guardsmen also sneaked into Key West by boat.
"I think everybody is aware that it is a problem and we are trying to maximize our resources to minimize any vulnerabilities," Fyles said.
Capt. Joseph Nimmich, commander of the Coast Guard's Group Key West, said that boats as small as the one that landed this week are hard to spot. He said the Coast Guard needs more resources to beef up border security.
Coast Guard officials reached Saturday would not discuss if any security measures have been taken since the landing.