MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Dissident Cubans recall tugboat tragedy

A group of Cuban dissidents congregated on Havana's seaside boulevard Wednesday to mark the 1994 sinking of a tugboat in Havana Harbour when 37 people were killed as they tried to flee the island.

The demonstration drew immediate reaction from an angry pro-Castro gang whose members insulted and shoved some of the dissidents. Several of the anti-government demonstrators were bundled into an unmarked van and driven off.

Some 30 members of the outlawed Republican Popular Party, some wearing black T-shirts, congregated at a spot on the Malecon and prayed before throwing flowers into the sea and shouting, "Freedom for political prisoners".

The sinking of the tugboat "March 13" took place July 13, 1994, when a group of 68 Cubans captured a state-owned tugboat in an attempt to leave the island and head to the United States. But four larger Dutch built tugboats known as "polargos" trained high-pressure fire hoses on the fleeing vessel and rammed it repeatedly until it sank into Havana Bay, according to survivors.

The Cuban government says the sinking was accidental, while dissidents insist it was deliberate. Of the 68 people who had tried to flee on the tugboat, 37 drowned, including many children.

As the dissidents were preparing to leave a large group from the Union of Communist Youth members moved in and surrounded them, chanting pro-government slogans and waving Cuban flags as foreign journalists watched.

With chants of "Fidel, Fidel" and "This street belongs to Fidel," the counter demonstrators ringed the dissidents, who pulled back and linked arms, forming a human chain.