Published: October 18, 2005
Cuban Human-Smuggling Operation Terminated off South Florida
By Eric Green, Washington File 
Five Cubans arrested, two vessels seized in case
U.S. law authorities have broken up a Cuban human-smuggling ring that attempted to smuggle, for profit, Cuban nationals into the United States.
In an October 13 statement, the U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) agency said it had arrested five Cuban nationals and seized two vessels in the case. The CBP, part of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, is assigned to manage, control, and protect U.S. borders. (See related article.)
The CBP said the Cuban smuggling operation was uncovered after agency border patrol agents observed two vessels meeting near Elliot Key, Florida (near Miami). This rendezvous, the CBP said, later was determined to be a fuel transfer operation common among drug and human smugglers in the Caribbean corridor.
After a lengthy pursuit, the CBP successfully intercepted the two vessels.
The CBP said it actively searches for vessels outfitted for smuggling in an effort to disrupt criminal smuggling enterprises. This effort not only identifies smugglers but ultimately also prevents smugglers from risking the lives of those being smuggled.
The U.S. State Department defines human smuggling as the "facilitation, transportation, attempted transportation or illegal entry of a person across an international border, in violation of one or more countries' laws, either clandestinely or through deception, such as [by] the use of fraudulent documents."
The State Department said in a January 1 fact sheet that human smuggling is conducted "to obtain a financial or other material benefit for the smuggler, although financial gain or material benefit are not necessarily elements of the crime."
That fact sheet also explains the differences between human smuggling and what is called trafficking in persons.
In addition, human trafficking is the subject of the State Department's Tafficking in Persons Report posted on its Web site.
The State Department also developed and funded a global project that involved stopping human trafficking. The International Organization for Migration and the Inter-American Commission of Women of the Organization of American States (OAS) conducted the project.
A summary of the project is available on the OAS Web site.
Source: U.S. Department of State
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