14ymedio, Havana, 22 August 2024 — Accused of illegally trafficking 20 Ecuadorian and Chinese migrants to Florida by land and sea, Dianelys Pérez Escourido, Omar Liván Ripoll Pérez, Humberto Tamayo and Víctor Febles Gualpa will be prosecuted in the United States. The Cubans are in the Cayo Hueso prison, along with a fifth person involved, Joel Gil Egued, whose nationality was not specified.
According to Rick Ramsay, Sheriff of Monroe County, the detainees are part of a “sophisticated gang” that charged $20,000 to each Ecuadorian to reach the United States (no details were given about the payments required from Chinese migrants).
The officer explained to the Miami WPLG television station that each migrant deposited “$4,000 to leave Ecuador, another $3,000 in the Bahamas, in addition to $1,000 to the operator of the vehicle that would transfer them when they made landfall in the United States.” Another $12,000 had to be paid to reach the final destination: New York or New Jersey.
The migrants, intercepted after disembarking near County Road, offered details of the group’s modus operandi, which used speedboats and SUV-type vans, in which they transported the undocumented migrants.
Ramsay did not specify the immigration status of the detained Cubans, but he did reveal that they are originally from Havana and Camagüey. Also, according to local television Channel 12 News, bail for each person i