Miami SOS Cuba boaters eager to deliver humanitarian aid, show support

MIAMI – A group of boaters with Cuban and U.S. flags met Wednesday afternoon to join an SOS Cuba demonstration near the Miamarina at Bayside Marketplace in downtown Miami.

Since the uprising Sunday in the communist island, many Miami-Dade County boaters have said they are willing to deliver humanitarian aid across the Florida Straits.

It’s a short voyage that the U.S. Coast Guard warned would be illegal after SOS Cuba supporters started to meet at the Pelican Harbour marina in Miami.

Jorge Lopez, an SOS Cuba supporter in Miami-Dade, said he and other boaters are still hoping the Coast Guard will allow their short voyage in U.S. territorial sea.

“We are trying to avoid anybody that tries to make it to land ... I would hate to see anybody get shaken down for trying to make it to land,” Lopez said.

Miami-Dade Police Department officers and the Coast Guard continued to discourage SOS Cuba demonstrations in the Florida Straits.

This is a developing story.

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For more about the situation in Cuba in Spanish, visit the Local 10 News “en español” page.