The Tugboat Massacre #Cuba Remolcador 13 de marzo

#Cuba 🇨🇺 #HavanaBay July 14, 1994 26 years ago, these families were killed by order of the Castro communist tyranny. The crime shook our nation, and its one of the reasons that as a kid, my family and I left the country. This is known as the Tugboat 13 of March Massacre, #remolcador13marzo
“Among the most flagrant atrocities committed by the Castro regime in its long history of human rights’ abuses, two incidents stand out that took place in the month of July —the Canimar River Massacre of 1980 and the Tugboat Massacre of 1994. Perpetrated by the Cuban regime still in power, they illustrate its profound disregard for human life and fundamental freedoms. On this anniversary, we remember the victims —their tragic loss is compounded by the continued impunity the Cuban dictatorship enjoys for these and many other crimes against humanity.
On July 13, 1994, a group of around seventy family members and friends boarded the tugboat “13 de marzo” in the middle of the night hoping to escape to the United States. As they made their way out of Havana’s harbor, three tugboats that had been waiting in the dark took up a chase. Soon, they began to relentlessly spray the boat with high-pressure water jets, ripping children from their parents’ arms and sweeping passengers off to sea. Finally, the tugboat was rammed to make it sink. Passengers who had taken refuge in the cargo hold were pinned down; they desperately pounded on the walls and the children wailed in horror as the boat sank and they all drowned. The three pursuing tugboats circled around survivors who clung to life, creating wave turbulence to make them drown. The attack stopped suddenly, apparently to conceal the crime, when a merchant ship with a Greek flag approached Havana Harbor. Cuban Navy ships standing by began picking up survivors and took them to shore. The traumatized women and children were interrogated and sent home, the men imprisoned for months and given psychotropic drugs.
37 perished, including eleven children. None of the bodies were returned to their families for burial. Survivors and relatives of the dead were denied information and put under surveillance.” - Canada Free Press

#VictimsOfCommunism #Massacre #Castro #Cuba #Justice #HumanRights