Military and Police Deployment
to Prevent Massive Exodus
Havana, December 10, 2007 - At noon on December 1st, a Saturday, an unusually large contingent of military and police forces was deployed along the road to Rosario Beach, in the Güines and Melena del Sur municipalities in the southern coast of Havana. The goal of this display of force was to prevent illegal immigrants from leaving the country through this coastal area.
This reporter witnessed the deployment in near the Osvaldo Sanchez Sugar Mill in Güines. The forces consisted of seven vehicles with around 68 Special Forces agents, a Jeep with six policemen and a patrol car, all on route to Rosario Beach. According to official sources, more than 800 people have left the country illegally through this area in the last 3 months.
People from the nearby towns attributed this mobilization to the great amount of Cubans who have left the country through these waters in search of refuge in Mexico to escape the precarious economic situation in this island nation.
Pacha, a young fisherman and a resident of the town of Bello Indio, told this reporter that there were border guards already in the southern coast, patrolling in groups of four soldiers and that Saturday's operation had the purpose of reinforcing this guard because there are still a lot of rafters leaving through this zone.
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