Print

Email story

Comment

Email editor

Parents of dead boy allowed to stay in U.S.

He died when a boat of Cuban immigrants overturned in a chase with the Coast Guard.

KEY WEST - The parents of a 6-year-old Cuban boy were brought to Key West after their son died when the speedboat smuggling them capsized in the Straits of Florida, a Coast Guard spokesman said Saturday.

The couple, Julian Villasuso, 49, and Maizy Hurtado, 32, arrived late Friday and were turned over to U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents, Coast Guard Petty Officer Ryan Doss said.

The parents were released to relatives from Hollywood early Saturday, said Zachary Mann, a Customs and Border Protection spokesman. "In their time of grief, they're with their family and friends," he said.

The couple and their son Julian were among 30 people aboard the speedboat pursued by the Coast Guard cutter Dauntless about 45 miles south of Key West on Thursday. The boat overturned, and 30 people clinging to the hull were rescued. But the boy's body was found under the boat, authorities said.

The couple was expected to stay in the United States under the wet foot/dry foot policy. It usually lets Cubans who reach U.S. shores stay, while those caught at sea are normally sent back.

Acting U.S. Attorney R. Alexander Acosta said he asked officials in Washington to permit the boy's parents to enter the United States because his office was considering criminal prosecution against the people suspected of smuggling the migrants.

Other passengers were being interviewed on a Coast Guard cutter Saturday, Doss said. It was not known whether they would be returned to Cuba or if the suspected smugglers were among them.

[Last modified October 16, 2005, 01:31:12]