Repatriated Cubans get new truck !

They got another truck!

The Cubans who converted a 1951 Chevy pickup into a boat and sailed it to within 40 miles of Florida last week got another truck and drove it through this city's streets Wednesday to the U.S. Interests Section to try a new - and legal - bid to go to America.

"Let's see if God wills it this way," said Ariel Diego Marcel as he and the other 11 relatives, friends and neighbors who made the earlier attempt stood outside the American mission.

After arriving at the oceanfront mission in another vintage Chevy - this one bright blue - the group turned in the completed immigration forms that U.S. officials had given them last week on the high seas.

U.S. officials said they would respond within two months to the requests to emigrate legally.

Last week, the group was repatriated to the communist island after a U.S. Customs plane spotted their unusual, bright-green truck-boat floating in the Florida straits.

The Cubans later said they thought their bid to emigrate would not fail because the act was so outrageous.

The truck-boat was kept afloat by empty 55-gallon drums attached to the bottom as pontoons. A propeller attached to the drive shaft was pushing it along at about 8 mph.

The nine men, two women and one small child were at sea for 31 hours before the plane spotted them. The truck was sunk as a hazard to ocean navigation.

Under U.S. immigration policies, Cubans who reach U.S. shores are allowed to stay while those caught at sea are usually returned.

Migrants have been found on rafts or small boats made out of refrigerators, bathtubs, surfboards and inner tubes, but U.S. Coast Guard officials said the truck appeared to be a first.

Rodrunner

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SINKING THAT WAS SOOOOOOOOOOO WRONG!

Waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay wrong, it was even a deluxe cab, notice the quarter windows.

My ex-girlfriend is 1/2 Cuban and her grandmother is full Cuban.
I heard many a story about Cuba. I would love to visit!
Finally someone figures out a way to sneak vintage iron out of Cuba and we sink it.....DOH!!!!

I wonder if they get Junkyard Wars in Cuba. Looks like they may have caught an episode or two.

New truck !

I love that truck-boat...

i heard a story about cuba ( i dont remember where...) that since theres lots of vintage american cars & trucks there, and there's been no american trade for so long, that if you were to visit there and wanted something (other than cash, i suppose) to barter, one of the best things to bring is some brand-new sparkplugs for vintage autos.

so if you're making travel plans....

are americans still not allowed to travel to cuba??
I have friends who went there few years ago. the poverty is so complete. no-one has anything.If you put a bottle of finger nail polish(dollar store stuff)on the nightstand, you will have clean sheets from the maid every day.a pack of gum for each member of the band will get you music until you pass out from the rum.
even if they have money, there's nothing to buy.there has been no influx of new goods since the cuban missile crisis.
there is no makeup, pantyhose, cars, refrigerators,furniture, availiable for sale.
although canadians are allowed to travel there, you can only take non-durable goods.clothing, food, etc.I guess we're also still mad at that "blow the world up"thing.
well castro is an old man now, so soon the seeds of democracy will flourish,and so will the cuban people.
don't think for 1 second that they want communism now. even the russians gave up the dream when they realized what capitolism offers.the only reason communism is still alive there, is that castro is still alive.

Cuba could be making so much money right now off tourist it is not even funny! As soon a Castro goes and the trade embargo is lifted I bet you will see corporations buying up big chunks of pristine coastal property. The tourist industry will flourish and so will people who buy those classic American cars and import them back to America.

At least they had life vests on!


HRK

KEEP IT OUT OF THE OCEAN...DUH! Who ever gave the idea to sink it, needs this done to their head. lol.