Official, paper say a sixth man may have been aboard

By Cinda Alvarado Staff writer Diane Morales contributed to this report.

A woman who was part of a group of Cubans whose boat washed ashore near Port Aransas late Wednesday expected to be on her way to Miami after being hospitalized, but instead was sent to a detention facility in Los Fresnos on Saturday.

After recovering from a two-month sea voyage that ended last week, Magali Araugo Cruz was sent to the Port Isabel Service Pro-cessing center, commonly known as the Bayview deten-tion center, as part of an ongoing investi-gation, U.S. Border Patrol officials said.
 
Border Patrol officials indicated that at least part of the investigation may deal with whether there was a previously unknown seventh occupant of the 30-foot boat.

Cruz, 55, said she traveled from Cuba with five crewmembers. They were des-tined for Cozumel, Mexico, when Hurri-cane Charley drove their 30-foot boat off course. Out of fuel, the boat drifted to shore on Mustang Island. There, Corpus Christi police officers found Cruz in poor condi-tion and brought her to Christus Spohn Hospital Memorial.

Cruz was released Friday and underwent background checks by immigration author-ities. After seeing an immigration judge, she planned to stay with a local Cuban-American family until relatives from Miami could join her or pay her way there.

But Aracelis Tamayo, a local Cuban-American who had planned to take Cruz in, was told early Saturday the woman instead would be taken to the detention center, Border Patrol officials said.

Tamayo was able to speak with Cruz by phone before she was taken to the deten-tion facility.

"We visited her at the station and that's where we were told we couldn't take her home," Tamayo said.

Tamayo said officials would not tell her the reason for the investigation. But before Tamayo left Cruz, she provided clothing and basic toiletry items for her.

"She looked like she still needed more rest," Tamayo said. "Of course, she was scared and upset because she did-n't know how long it would be before she could see her daughter."

A local agent said officials were questioning whether a sev-enth individual was traveling with the Cubans, who Cruz said had lived on raw fish and salt or rainwater. Others in the group even had to drink urine.

Border Patrol spokesman Eddie Flores said the agency was not conducting the investigation. Flo-res said that in circumstances like Cruz's, the Department of Immi-gration and Customs Enforce-ment takes over.

A spokeswoman for the enforcement agency said Satur-day that she was not aware of the investigation. Attempts to con-tact authorities involved in the investigation were unsuccessful Saturday evening.

The Caymanian Compass, a daily newspaper in the Cayman Islands, reported June 30 that there were seven Cubans in Cruz's group when they left the island on the boat nearly two months ago.

According to the article, the Cubans arrived there on a small boat. But, according to the article, as soon as the crew docked, Cruz collapsed. The article went on to say that after she received med-ical attention, Cruz and the others left the dock. Witnesses said they saw the boat leave with another man, who had arrived a few days earlier in another vessel.

Two of the men who sailed with Cruz are in Dallas with family; the rest were sent by bus to live with relatives in Miami. All six will have court hearings to review their requests for asylum.

U.S. policy toward Cuban refugees is to grant asylum if they make it to U.S. soil, but send them home if they are found at sea.

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