Disney Fantasy Rescues Fugitives From Capsized Boat North of Cuba

The Disney Fantasy rescued three fugitives off the coast of Cuba who were wanted for violating their supervised release on federal Credit Card Fraud charges in New Orleans, Louisiana. On Thursday April 21st, during the Disney Fantasy’s final Star Wars Day at Sea cruise of 2016, a capsized boat was spotted approximately 40 miles north of Varadero, Cuba.

U.S. Marshal Amos Rojas Jr. said in a news release that last Thursday, the Disney Fantasy cruise ship found the fugitives clinging to a capsized boat. He says all three were wanted for violating their supervised release on federal credit card fraud charges in New Orleans. Twenty-six-year-old Luis Rivera-Garcia, 23-year-old Juliet Estrada-Perez and 23-year-old Enrique Gonzalez-Torres were turned over to authorities in Florida.

The fugitives were Cuban nationals who were from the United States. Rojas says authorities believe the three may have been fleeing to Cuba to avoid prosecution.

The following video by Lauren Smith shows the fugitives being transferred from the Disney Fantasy to a U.S. Coast Guard vessel. The U.S. Coast Guard returned to Key West were they were taken into custody by U.S. Marshals.

They have been charged with violation of supervised release. For anyone looking for more on the fugitives there is a more detailed account of the past transgressions in this article from The Advocate and a press release from the US Marshals.

4 Replies to “Disney Fantasy Rescues Fugitives From Capsized Boat North of Cuba”

  1. M

    We were dining at Palo when we saw the boat, and the men waving from what looked like the topside of a flipped over boat. Told our server, they told the bridge, and the MOB was called. It was interesting to see what took place, and how quickly Disney responded, and how Commodore Tom kept reassuring the Guests that they would make it to Castaway Cay on time.

    Reply
  2. Kevin

    We were on that sailing and under the impression these were refugees defecting from Cuba… interesting to hear they were actually trying to get there! It was an emotional and dramatic scene earlier in the day watching the DCL crew rescue these folks from nasty seas in one of the jet powered rescue boats.

    Reply
  3. Kaz

    yeah, we were on it too. We were wondering why they looked so unhappy when rescued… once we were back in Port Canaveral, we found out why…

    Reply

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