This boat is rated at a maximum 2,000 pound capacity, including the engine. The engine pictured here is a 200hp outboard. Elian's boat had a 50hp outboard engine, vastly underpowered but probably allowing more in passenger weight.
The Cuban boat was owned and operated by a Cuban smuggler. Sunday, November 20, 1999, sixteen people left Cardenas, Cuba but shortly after leaving one mother either insisted that they return to land in order to let she and her child off or got off after the boat developed engine trouble and returned briefly. Reports differ. Fourteen stayed aboard.
Desperate? Perhaps.
Responsible? Definitely not.
Earlier the same day, two other survivors were found off Key Biscayne. Arianne Horta, 21, and her boyfriend Nivaldo Fernandez, 33, were found dehydrated and severly sunburned after the boat apparently capsized on Wednesday.
Bodies were found as far north as St. Lucie Inlet. Not all bodies have been recovered.
The Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) has ruled that Elian should be returned to his natural father and grandparents in Cuba.
Dan Burton (R-Ind) has introduced a bill in Congress to naturalize Elian, making him a citizen of the United States. It has recently been announced that Mr. Burton, co-author of the infamous Helms-Burton Act, has received more in campaign funds from the Miami coalition than he has from his own Indiana constituents.
With emotions running high and news reports becoming distorted, you may want to review original reports from South Florida: