The View From Cojimar

By Lionel Martin/Cojimar

In central Havana last week, all ferry passengers were being searched with metal detectors. Security and vigilance have been heightened in the weeks since three harbor ferries were hijacked by Cubans hoping to reach Florida. Police and civilian militia patrolled the docks, and all around the bay shipping companies had taken on armed guards to keep their vessels from being stolen. At Hemingway Marina, which plays host to the annual Hemingway deep-sea fishing tournament, the tourist boats were under guard by police.

Elsewhere, however, the government let its guard down. On beaches and in port towns up and down the Cuban coast, in Guanabo and in Jaimanitas, the sea was suddenly an open frontier. Many Cubans slipped out of the bays and rivers on their motorized private boats, with entire families on board, for a relatively comfortable crossing. But from the vantage point of the seawall in Miramar, Havana's tree-lined suburb, 30 to 40 inner tubes could be seen setting off by moonlight.

Five miles east of Havana is Cojimar, Ernest Hemingway's fishing village, the place where he docked his boat, the Pilar. The town's fishermen inspired The Old Man and the Sea. Last Monday night, from out of La Terraza bar, which he once patronized, a bronze head of Hemingway looked to the coast, toward five young men and the sea. They crawled silently aboard a homemade raft loaded with plastic soda bottles filled with fresh water, canned condensed milk, cheese, knives and fishing equipment. A big tarp was onboard to protect them from the sun.

The raft consisted simply of two massive truck inner tubes encased in a frame of iron and wood, all covered with Styrofoam. The young men, who range in age from 20 to 30, had planned this trip for weeks. To train for the adventure, each went out daily on an inner tube to fish, both at night and by day. The men did not give their names. One says he is sure they will make it to Florida. A few years ago, they would have spent a year in jail for "illegal departure" if they were picked up by Cuban patrol boats. This time they knew it would be smooth sailing as the tide pulled them out beyond the 12-mile limit into the Straits of Florida. That is, smooth sailing against Castro. They had yet to survive the sharks and storms.

Even after President Clinton's change of heart, ordering Cuban refugees detained at Guantanamo Bay, the rafters did not stop. One 25-year-old boatbuilder laughed off the threat of U.S. detention: "Look, in one form or another, Guantanamo naval base is American territory. I'm sure I'll be going quickly to the United States and walking the streets of Florida."