A chance at exile

last updated 8 January 2015

Guantanamo Bay, Cuba

A family that tried to escape Cuba by sea in a modified 1959 Buick was allowed to request political asylum this week. There were 11 refugees in the watertight car, which was powered by a propeller turned by its motor. Eight of them were returned to Havana when the Coast Guard stopped the craft 45 miles from Florida, on Feb. 3. The Grass family, which tried to flee last year in a floating 1951 Chevy truck, was sent to the U.S. Naval Base at Guantanamo Bay after making a convincing case that they would be persecuted if they returned home. “We are very happy,” said Eduardo Perez Grass, the couple’s nephew in Havana. “At least they won’t be sent back here.”