On Sunday, a Democracia flotilla will commemorate the third anniversary of the sinking of the tugboat Trece de Marzo, rammed by Cuban government vessels seven miles off Havana. Ramon Saul Sanchez, the group's leader, said this week that he will sail alone to the spot inside Cuban territorial waters where 41 people died.
That spot is eight miles from Havana; the Cuban government claims sovereignty over all waters 12 miles from its shoreline.
Havana has not commented on Sanchez's plan. In Washington, the U.S. State Department warned that any violation of Cuba's borders will have ``potentially serious consequences'' and that if the Cuban government detains a violator, ``the ability of the U.S. government to assist any such person will be very limited.''
But State Department spokesman Nicholas Burns also cautioned ``Mr. Fidel Castro and his criminal colleagues . . . not to overreact to this flotilla.'' Cuban border patrols ``must understand that they need to act with the utmost restraint this weekend,'' Burns said Friday.
Coast Guard spokesman Marcus Woodring said Friday in Miami that Sanchez's intention to enter Cuban waters ``is a bad idea. He is placing himself, and all other participants in the flotilla, in great danger.''
Also at stake is the future of the Democracia Movement. A light turnout for a May flotilla has raised criticism among many South Florida Cubans who once found hope in the group's public acts.
``I'm a little disconcerted because I don't see anything happening,'' said Tina Ortiz, a Little Havana resident. ``At first, I was in accord with the flotilla; but now I see that nothing is being accomplished and that the people in Cuba barely know about the flotilla's sailings.''
The most recent flotilla, on May 17, included only 10 boats. Thirteen boats took part in the first sailing July 13, 1995; 25 in the second, Sept. 25, 1995; and 20 in the third, March 2, 1996; three in the fourth, May 1, 1996; and 20 in the fifth flotilla, July 13, 1996.
Although no records are kept on the number of boaters, activists and journalists taking part in the sailings, observers say few people were left behind at the dock in recent sailings. Most of the boats left with only a few passengers.
``Apparently, public support has dropped,'' said Juan Clark, professor of sociology at Miami-Dade Community College. ``Like everything novel, [the sailings] once attracted attention. But this is no longer the first time.''
Clark said he doesn't doubt the integrity of the Democracia members, but questions whether this is the right time to send flotillas to Cuba and whether they have any effect on people on the island. Independent journalists in Havana say that neither civilians nor security officers have responded to Democracia's calls for public demonstrations on the days of flotilla sailings.
Democracia leaders insist that, although few South Florida Cubans took part in the May 17 sailing, new sympathizers have joined the group's ranks. At present, membership is between 2,000 and 3,000, they said.
As of Friday, 40 boats had signed up for Sunday's sailing, Sanchez said. Thirty have confirmed their presence.
Brothers to the Rescue will perform a search-and-rescue mission Sunday at the same time of the sailing and its pilots will hold a memorial at the approximate spot where the tugboat sank.
The boats will sail at dawn Sunday from Key West's Conch Harbor Marina. A memorial will be held about 10 a.m. off the coast of Cuba, at which time Sanchez will sail into Cuban waters aboard a small craft.
``I'm going in a nonthreatening manner, to approach the site where the tugboat sank,'' Sanchez said. ``I will also claim the right we all have to enter Cuba.''
Sanchez said he will take with him a white rose, a copy of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, a copy of a resolution by the Organization of American States that calls for the recovery of all the bodies aboard the tugboat, and a sealed message addressed to any authority -- Cuban or American -- that challenges his right to return to Cuba.
Copyright © 1997 The Miami Herald