Both say they came by boat, wandered streets for two days

BY TERE FIGUERAS AND DAVID CISNEROS

  Soaking wet and looking for a safe haven, a young man and woman claiming to have fled Cuba by boat ''landed'' in an unlikely spot Tuesday afternoon:
  Calle Ocho's Versailles Restaurant.

  The pair came in from a rainstorm and entered the famed eatery on the outskirts of Little Havana, where exiles gather as much to talk politics as to sip
  café cubano, prompting a flurry of hospitality. Patrons thrust money at them, and waitresses hustled to bring Cokes and Cuban sandwiches.

  They identified themselves as Roberto Rivero, 26, and Yumaisy La Rosa, 20, and said they left Cuba by boat from Cárdenas in the province of Matanzas --
  arriving in South Florida on Sunday and wandering for two days.

  Miami police contacted the Immigration and Naturalization Service and were told the two Cubans would have to present themselves to immigration
  officials this morning, police spokeswoman Herminia Salas-Jacobson said.

  Rivero and La Rosa were taken to the Homeless Assistance Center in Overtown. The agency was to arrange transportation to the INS office.

  ''They didn't commit any crime, so we treated this as a homeless situation,'' Salas-Jacobson said.

  Immigration officials would be responsible for determining their legal status and the authenticity of their story, she said.

  INS spokeswoman Patricia Mancha said she was not aware of the case, and referred calls to the U.S. Border Patrol. A spokesman for that agency did not
  return calls Tuesday night.

  ''They said they were Cuban, hungry and tired,'' Salas-Jacobson said. ``This is not a situation where someone comes right off the shore. This is a very
  popular restaurant in the middle of the city, far away from every major waterway.''

  For the patrons at Versailles, the entry of two Cubans claiming to have survived a harrowing trip across the Florida Straits was an unexpected lunchtime
  joy.

  ''Like something out of a novela,'' said activist Jorge Acosta, who was at Versailles drinking coffee.

  The arrivals, who said they had wandered the city for two days -- sleeping one night at a gas station -- were plied with hot sandwiches and soft drinks.

  ''They couldn't eat. They were disoriented, especially the girl,'' said cook Carlos Lopez, who followed as La Rosa and Rivero -- as well as the most of the
  restaurant regulars -- went into a side dining room.

  The exuberant crowd also opened their wallets.

  'People took out fives, tens, twenties. The girl said, `We didn't come here for money.' But people kept shoving money at them, and they finally took
  some,'' Lopez said. 'They were really nervous. The girl kept asking if this was going to be like Cuba. Everyone kept telling her, `Don't worry, everything
  will be taken care of.' ''

  Rivero, who said he was a signer of the Varela Project -- a grass-roots initiative that called for democratic and economic reforms on the island -- said they
  were from Santiago de Cuba and had escaped with the help of a friend. Two more people accompanied them on the trip, he said, but they were picked up
  by car after landing.

  ''I left Cuba because it was unbearable,'' Rivero, a house painter, said, offering a colorful explanation for leaving. ``Socialism is crap.''

  El Nuevo Herald reporter Wilfredo Cancio Isla contributed to this report.