Cuban rafters’ bodies ID’d

(CNS): Days after Tropical Storm Fay swept through the Florida Keys last August, four decomposed bodies chewed by sharks were discovered floating by fishermen and boaters over a 33-mile stretch. Their faces were unrecognizable. Their identities a mystery. But desperate families from Miami to Havana thought they knew who the victims might be: men from a group of eight who fled Cuba on a homemade raft to avoid being jailed for their human rights activism. ”I began getting Q-tips in the mail from Cuba,” said detective Terry Smith of the Monroe County Sheriff’s Office. “The families were trying to send us swabs . . . to be tested for DNA. They were so frantic to try to identify their loved ones.”

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