By ALFONSO CHARDY

More than 30 Cuban migrants, held on a Coast Guard cutter since their boat capsized and two women drowned, were repatriated to Cuba today, ending a tense standoff between the U.S. government and the migrants' Florida relatives.

They were among 79 Cuban migrants returned to Cuba, including 45 interdicted in other operations.

The abrupt repatriation of the extended family of 34 Cubans angered their relatives in Florida, who had pleaded with President Bush in a demonstration in front of the Coast Guard station in Miami Beach Thursday that the migrants be allowed to come ashore.

Repatriation of the migrants capped days of anxiety and tension in the latest high-profile Cuban migrant drama to unfold in South Florida.

The deaths of the two women -- Isabel Menéndez Machado, 74, and Luisa Cardentey, 60 -- underscored demands by Cuban exile leaders to change the so-called wet foot, dry foot policy under which Cuban migrants stopped at sea are generally returned home and those who make to U.S. shores stay. The bodies of the women remain unburied at a funeral home in Miami-Dade County because Florida family members wanted to wait in hopes the migrants on the cutter would be brought ashore in time for the funeral.

''We are in shock,'' said José López, a Tampa resident, who acknowledged in interviews with The Herald that he helped organize the ill-fated voyage. His 17-year-old step-daughter Days Yero, was on the capsized boat, but was allowed to come ashore because she has a green card. ``It is outrageous that this country, this government would do this.''

López, 45, said the family did not plan any demonstrations but hoped to ''seek justice'' by suing the federal government. Their Coral Gables immigration attorney Eduardo Soto has said he is planning a lawsuit against the Coast Guard, alleging liability in the deaths of the women, whom López described as his mother-in-law and an aunt.

López said he feared that once back in Cuba his repatriated relatives may be jailed and not allowed back in their homes.

''We have talked to people over there and we understand that already the homes my relatives left behind have been taken over by the Cuban regime and stripped of everything, including toilets and other bathroom fixtures,'' López said.

He said the family in Florida now plans to go ahead with funeral arrangements for Menéndez and Cardentey, with possible services Sunday. ''We're still working out the details,'' he said.

A Coast Guard statement said the number of migrants repatriated from the capsized boat was 34, one more than initially reported. Lt. Cmdr. Chris O'Neil, a Coast Guard spokesman, said Friday that the original number of 37 migrants reported in a statement Sunday was wrong because one migrant was overlooked at the time.

Besides the two women who died, authorities allowed two people on the boat to come ashore, López's step-daughter, Yero, and the boat pilot, Jorge Ernesto Leyva. That left 34 migrants on the cutter. They were repatriated with 45 other Cuban migrants interdicted in other operations.

All 79 were taken to the Cuban port of Bahía de Cabañas on the northwestern Coast of Cuba and left there at 10:52 a.m., the Coast Guard statement noted.

Leyva was initially detained as a migrant smuggling supsect, but was released without being charged on Wednesday.

The Coast Guard said Friday that the investigation is continuing and that the case was referred to the U.S. Attorney's Office for ``review and consideration.''