A big water/fuel tank turned into a boat. Intercepted in 1999.
For more than five decades Cubans who don’t like living on their island country have sailed, some even tried swimming, to the United States. This is partly because the U.S. Cuban Adjustment Act (CAA) of 1966 ‘fast tracks’ citizenship for any Cuban who can make it to U.S. territory.
U.S. policy is to sink all intercepted migrant boats.
Looks like simple 2×4 construction. Intercepted in 2016.
Even since the year 2000, Cubans still come up with ingenious, or maybe desperate, ways of getting to the United States.
Not sure what this is. Intercepted in 2016.
Wood planks strapped to 55 gallon drums. Intercepted in 2015.
My favorite. A 1951 Chevy truck mounted on empty 55 gallon drums. The riders actually attempted to drive it to the U.S. The U.S. Coast Guard intercepted the boat-truck in July 2003.
The truck-boat plugged along at eight miles per hour and made it just 40 miles from U.S. shores before sinking.
You might have seen one driving around Miami, but it’s not the one that sank. A Florida Chevy dealer was so inspired by the effort of the Cubans that he made a much better-working replica. As of May 2019, the dealer was trying to sell it for just under $40-thousand!
But wait! In 2004 two Cuban families tried to drive to Florida in their 1959 Buick. The families had tried to do the same thing in the 1990s but their Buick developed electrical problems and they turned back. The U.S. Coast Guard ended their 2004 attempt, catching them before they could reach the shore, sending them back to Cuba, and their classic car to the bottom of the ocean.
But two failed attempts didn’t stop the people in the Buick, they tried again in 2005, this time in a floating 1948 Mercury stretched taxi.
As is U.S. Coast Guard policy, and despite the boat being a classic car, the Cuban taxi-raft was sunk.
VEHICLE I-D: JOIN THE U.S. MILITARY GET A CLASSIC CAR?
VEHICLE ID: ARMORED DRUG SMUGGLING BOATS