Duarte, 19, said she shared a cell with Marta Beatriz Roque, one of the leaders of the Domestic Dissidence Working Group, and Ileana Iraeta of Hialeah, who was arrested in May on charges that her luggage bore traces of explosive substances.
Duarte, along with Leiva, his cousin Juan Torna, and Mercedes Madera, chartered a boat June 4 at Abel's Marina in Islamorada, saying they were going out fishing. The following day, Madera became seasick, came ashore in Key West and returned to Hialeah with a friend.
Leiva and Torna wanted to go to Cuba, Duarte said, but the boat developed engine trouble. A U.S.-registered craft went by and the two men asked its operator to radio the Cuban border guard for assistance.
Once in Cuba, the three were taken to a jail in Ciego de Avila, from where they were transferred to Villa Marista in Havana, the headquarters of State Security.
Duarte shared a small, unventilated cell with Iraeta, Roque and three others.
``I've never been involved in politics,'' Duarte said. ``In that cell, next to Marta Beatriz [Roque], I learned what it's like to be a dissident, what it's like for a woman who has to struggle for her ideals.''
The three other cellmates were prostitutes, Duarte said, ``one of whom, named Rosita, was recently arrested with a German tourist held responsible for the bomb that exploded in the Havana tunnel.''
Duarte and her companions tried to keep the cell clean, she said, even though they were given water only twice a week.
Roque, 52, was like a mother to her, Duarte said.
``She told me: `Be strong; don't pay attention to these torturers. You'll be leaving soon, and someday you'll be able to visit your country without problems,' '' Duarte said.
Roque was arrested July 15, along with Vladimiro Roca, Felix Bonne and Rene Gomez Manzano, three other members of the dissident group.
Roque's behavior during questioning by Interior Ministry officials impressed Duarte.
``Every time my turn came up, I suffered,'' Duarte said. ``But Marta talked back to them, raked them over with a courage I've never seen in a woman.''
The officials tried to link Duarte with Brothers to the Rescue, the Cuban American National Foundation and Alpha 66, the anti-Castro paramilitary group.
``I had heard about those groups but don't know anything about them,'' Duarte said. ``They would show me photographs of people I've never seen before and Marta would say to me, `Ignore them.' ''
Shortly before being released, Duarte learned that Cuban government prosecutors have asked for 20 years' imprisonment for Roque.
``They want to frighten me,'' Duarte quoted Roque as saying. ``But if I have to serve them I will, because I'm fighting for a just cause.''
While Roque faced the prospect of a long prison sentence, Duarte and her companions were released.
Friday at 4 a.m., Cuban authorities put the three detainees in the boat and sent them back to South Florida, Duarte said. A Cuban border guard vessel escorted the boat 15 miles out to sea.
The boat arrived in the Keys eight hours later and the three phoned relatives in Hialeah to pick them up.
The boat was to have been returned to the marina on June 6. When it wasn't, marina employees notified the Monroe County Sheriff's Office.
On Sunday, after Abel's Marina got its boat back, Madera was arrested and charged with theft. Because she was unable to post $5,000 bail, she will remain at Monroe County Jail until a hearing Aug. 26.
No charges have been pressed against Duarte, Leiva and Torna.
A spokesman for the U.S. attorney's office, which has been investigating whether what was supposed to be a three-day fishing trip was actually a botched smuggling operation, refused to comment Monday.
The rental operator was ecstatic.
``I'm so glad to get my boat back. Can you believe it?'' said John Clark, who added he lost $7,000 in rentals while the boat was gone.
``They didn't do anything to hurt my boat, or steal anything. If you get a car towed to an impound lot, do you expect to get everything back? I'm really surprised. They let my boat go, with the people in it and everything still on the boat.''
The boat needs a tune-up before it can be rented again. But when it is, Clark says the craft will have a new name: the Cuba Express.
Herald staff writer Marika Lynch contributed to this report.
Copyright © 1997 The Miami Herald