Royal Caribbean’s Liberty of The Seas rescued a group of 17 migrants from Cuba who were stranded at sea on Jan. 14 and arrived at Port Everglades on Monday, Martin Luther King Jr. Day.
Witnesses said the migrants were shouting “Patria y Vida,” Spanish for “Homeland and Life,” a slogan and song that mocked Cuban propaganda’s “Homeland or Death.”
The hip-hop song was associated with the historic July 2021 Cuban protests and has now become an anthem for Cubans’ new freedom movement.
“People got saved, and it was kind of a good feeling,” said Brett Kahn, a cruise passenger from Fort Lauderdale. “It felt like it happened for a reason.”
Kahn was with Tiffany Amberg, also of Fort Lauderdale, and thousands of others onboard the 18-deck ship for a three-day cruise of the Caribbean.
“Everybody was cheering, which was nice,” Amberg said.
The U.S. Coast Guard later learned that a second boat full of migrants was part of the same group, but that ship had capsized with 22 on board who were still missing.
“We got information from the cruise ship, the Liberty of the Seas, who had talked to some of the migrants. They said they were with another vessel, and we found another vessel nearby that was swamped,” Rear Adm. Brendan McPherson said.
The rescue comes days after a sailboat packed with Haitian migrants came ashore at Virginia Key in what authorities referred to as a smuggling operation.
In the past year, we have seen a historic surge of migrants, mostly Cubans, making the dangerous voyage via the Florida Straits. After the new year, the numbers shot up. And at the border, the numbers have been breaking records.
Since October 2021, close to 300,000 Cubans have reached the United States by way of the southern U.S.-Mexico border. Miami-Dade Schools Superintendent Jose Dotres said there has been an increase in the foreign-born student population.
“We’re seeing a greater impact on the middle and high school levels,” Dotres said.
Afternoon report