AT about 11:35 a.m. yesterday, February 20, 2006, it was learned that an illegal departure had been organized with help from persons in the United States, leaving from Guajaibón Beach in La Habana province.

Both women and children were aboard the blue-and-white, black-topped Scorpion speedboat, registration number FL1186EY, with two 250-horsepower Mercury motors. The body of a woman was found on the shore, and at the present time, the cause of her death is unknown.

A Border Guard boat followed the speedboat until the latter headed north at a speed of 20 knots per hour. The Miami Coast Guard and the Coast Guard liaison in Havana were advised.

At 16:53 hours, the liaison reported that a Coast Guard ship had intercepted the speedboat 35 miles north of Mariel, and that there were 14 people on board.

A man and woman involved in this incident who were unable to board the vessel were arrested at the point where the U.S. speedboat arrived. Recently, the number of pirate craft coming from Florida and involved in the trafficking of persons has grown. That country’s government, increasingly tolerant of such criminal activities, is the principal culprit responsible for the thousands of lives that its murderous law has cost the people of Cuba. The shameless way in which it encourages and awards those who violate Cuban laws and arrive illegally in U.S. territory promotes that terrible traffic with legal privileges not granted to any other citizen of the world. While that is occurring in Gulf waters, the United States is building a horrible wall along its border with Mexico, where more than 500 people lose their lives every year. Cuba has revealed the provocations on the part of that genocidal government to prevent the sale of food to Cuba, shred the Migratory Agreements and break the tenuous diplomatic links that, with great difficulty, still exist.