Resettlement re-cap: a periodic report from the Cuban Refugee Center, June 1964

              SPONSOR CUBAN REFUGEES
Fulfill Their Faith in Freedom
JUNE  1964
RESETTLEMENT RE-CAP
FOR  ADMINISTRATIVE  USE
A  PERIODIC REPORT FROM THE CUBAN REFUGEE CENTER — FREEDOM TOWER, MIAMI 32, FLORIDA
U.   S.   DEPARTMENT  OF   HEALTH,   EDUCATION,   AND WELFARE       —       WELFARE ADMINISTRATION
U. S.  CUBAN  REFUGEE PROGRAM
J. ARTHUR LAZELL, Director, Refugee Center
JOHN  FREDERICK THOMAS, Director, Washington, D. C.
ERROL T. BALLANFONTE, Chief, Center Operations HARRY B. LYFORD, Editor
His Face Tells Of A Torturous Trip
To Freedom...Antonio Salas
Has Fresh Water Again
Six of Seven Refugees
Survive Ordeal 'On FaitK
(Photo And Story Courtesy MIAMI HERALD) eat."
By DON BOHNING
Of Our Latin America Staff
"We had faith. We were 10
days with no food, no water,
but we had faith. That is
what brought us here."
Unshaven and unsmiling,
25-year-old Juan Duran told
of the ordeal at sea. Seven
started the trip. Monday, six
finished it alive.
The seventh man died
shortly before the little band
of Cuban refugees was rescued off the Central Keys.
But they were not sure he
was dead so they kept him
aboard.
The seven had tried to
quench their thirst by straining sea water through a rag
into a glass as they rowed
from Cuba in a 16-foot open
boat.
"We rinsed our mouth once
a day," said Duran, through
parched lips from a wheelchair in Jackson Memorial
Hospital. "We had nothing to
"We are accustomed to
going without," added 33-
year-old Antonio Salas. "Conditions in Cuba are very bad."
Alfred Echemendia, about
31, apparently drank too
much salt water.
He died shortly before the
merchant ship S. S. Sea Train
Georgia found the band and
radioed the Coast Guard.
The survivors — all men
between 20 and 40 years old
— began their flight the
night of May 1, Duran said.
They pooled their resources
for three months, preparing
for the escape.
They left Guanabo, a small
community near Havana,
undercover of darkness and
May Day celebrations in the
boat. It had a 25-horsepower
outboard motor.
"We took no food nor water. We thought it would take
only two or three days at
most," Duran said.
But less than a day away
from the Cuban coast, their
motor quit.
"We threw it overboard
and began to row," Duran
said. "Anything to get out of
Cuba."
They rowed and hoped until
Monday when the Coast
Guard picked them up.
Weak from hunger, thirst
and exposure the survivors
were taken firgt two Overseas
Hospital on Plantation Key
then brought to Jackson
Memorial.
After being treated for
exposure, examined and fed,
all but one were released for
processing through the Cuban
Refugee Center.
All six said they had
friends and relatives remaining in Cuba.
And if we have to go back
to free them, we will," vowed
Salas.
MIAMI HEKALD
May 12, 1964
THE SCORE
(Week Ending May 28)
Persons Registered 89
Since Jan. f61-..172,177
Persons Resettled 178
Since Jan. '61... 77,898
By Agencies since Jan/61
Registered Resettled
NCWC 116,359   45,408
IRC   37,621   16,591
CWS   14,750   13,831
HIAS   3,447    2,068
MAY SMALL BOAT ARRIVALS:
Men 117, Women 33,
Children 28
Total 178, in 17 Boats
Totals since June !61:
6,780 Persons, 710 Boats
f0ur plain humanitarian concern...
!WE WELCOME THE CHALLENGE.. .AND WE WELCOME YOUR CONTINUED HELP. !
"We have chosen to help people.  It is our Christian concern, or our Judaic concern, or
just plain humanitarian concern, that has led us into this work. We welcome the challenge.
And we seek your continued help/1
This statement and appeal, by Cuban Refugee Program Director John F. Thomas in New York
City in late May, is appropriate to quote and re-quote as the Cuban Refugee Program enters
concluding stages.  Speaking to the national convention of the American Council for Nationalities Service, the Program Director said:  ,fWe find ourselves now in the same position many
of us experienced in other refugee programs. We have a difficult case load to work with.
Eight per cent are clear cases.  Ninety-two per cent are in need of special counseling and
arrangements.  From our previous experience we know that this is not an impossible task, but
it takes good planning to carry it out.  In other refugee situations sponsors have been found
for even the most difficult cases, and refugees who were most opposed to resettlement finally
accepted opportunity after concentrated counseling...
"Thank God we have few, if any, cases like some of those developed from prolonged refugee
camp life in Europe. When we speak today of difficult cases in our Miami case load we are
referring to the mother who is alone with three children, or the couple with elderly parents,
or the healthy young man who is illiterate but could do unskilled work in an industrial community.  Every case is resettleable if we can match the refugee's situation with a tailor-
made sponsorship.  And I feel strongly that before we walk away from any refugee, before we
commit a case to a long-term poverty situation on relief, we must make every effort to find
an appropriate sponsorship opportunity and to counsel the refugee to accept it.11
PLEASE TELL OF THE NEED TO HELP CUBANS HELP THEMSELVES I     Use -- Films, to dramatize the call
for sponsors and jobs for refugees; Printed Matter, to stimulate potential sponsors and job
providers; Exhibits, for large meetings.  Write:  Cuban Refugee Center, Miami 32, Florida.