For the second time in less than a month, Carnival Cruise’s Paradise has come to the rescue of a Cuban refugee ship.
Passenger Pat Messiah says he heard an announcement from the captain, then the cruise ship circled the makeshift raft with six people on it.
“The captain came over the speaker and said we’re going to slow down, they have a boat to make sure they’re not in danger,” Messier said.
He said the cruise ship stopped and then a styrofoam and plywood raft slid into the side of his boat.
“I think it’s pretty 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 in an hour, because right after we picked them up, about an hour later we left in a big storm.”, said the Messiah.
Six people were later put aboard the Paradise and then transferred to a small boat with Mexican officials on board as they approached the port of Cancun.
Rafael Pisano, of Casa Cuba in Tampa, says he believes conditions in Cuba are so bad right now that he hopes more people will risk their lives to leave.
“We see a Cuban version of East Berlin during the fall, let’s say.” People are desperate. They don’t know how to make ends meet because the regime is only trying to tighten the rope on the people, because of the food shortage they are deliberately causing. “I don’t know how big the wave will be, but it’s coming,” Pisano said.