DORAL, Fla. – A man who claims that he was shot while trying to flee Cuba for the U.S. is among a group of Cuban migrants who will remain in the country after being flown to South Florida for treatment.
Jorge Luis Escalona said he was among a few groups of people trying to flee his home country early Saturday morning, crawling through mangroves to reach a makeshift raft, when a fight ensued. Escalona said he and six others were shot.
Despite the shooting, Escalona said he and 25 others made the journey when the U.S. Coast Guard intercepted them near Key West.
Five other men and a pregnant woman were taken to area hospitals to be treated for their injuries.
The 20 others on the raft were sent back to Cuba.
Under the U.S. "wet foot, dry foot" policy, Cubans who've reached U.S. soil are allowed to stay, while those who are intercepted before reaching land are sent back.
Escalona showed off the gunshot wound Monday on the side of his torso, where the bullet entered and exited his body.
"We didn't know who they were," Escalona said in his native Spanish. "We got into a fight, but we were braver and got on the boat anyways. That group left. We stayed back a little bit, but then left also."
For Escalona, this was his 17th attempt to travel to the U.S., but it took a gunshot wound to get him there.
"Thank you to the Coast Guard who found us and saved our lives," he said. "We still had 80 kilometers to go."
Escalona said he came in search of freedom and opportunities to help his family.
The pregnant woman and her boyfriend remain at Jackson Memorial Hospital's Ryder Trauma Center in Miami.