TAMPA, Fla. (WFLA) – For the second time in less than a month, the Carnival Cruise ship Paradise has come to the rescue of a boatload of Cuban refugees.
Passenger Pat Messier says he heard an announcement from the captain and then the cruise ship rolled a makeshift boat with six people on board.
“The captain came over the loudspeaker and said we’re going to slow down, that they had a boat out there to make sure they weren’t in any trouble,” Messier said.
He says the cruise ship stopped and then a boat made of Styrofoam and plywood drifted to the side of their ship.
“I think it’s very sad that you hate your country so much that you’re going to risk your life in an ocean that you don’t know what’s going to happen an hour from now, because right after we took them, about an hour later “We went into a big storm,” Messier said.
The six were later taken aboard the Paradise and then transferred to a small boat with Mexican officials on board as they approached the port in Cancun.
Rafael Pizano with Casa Cuba in Tampa says he believes conditions in Cuba are so bad right now that he expects to see more people risking their lives to leave.
“We’re looking at Cuba’s version of East Berlin in the fall, let’s say. People are desperate. They don’t know how to make it because the regime is just trying to tighten the noose on the people, but the food shortages they make on purpose. I don’t know how big the wave will be, but it is coming,” said Pizano.
