MIAMI, March 18 (UPI) -- Hundreds of Cubans are reported risking their lives in one of the ocean's most dangerous straits because it's a new route to the United States.
The 90-mile-wide Mona Passage that separates the Dominican Republic and Puerto Rico has long been favored by smugglers ferrying illegal Dominican migrants to Puerto Rico, where they can stay illegally or try to take a flight to the U.S. mainland.
But, Cubans need only go halfway to Mona Island, managed by the Puerto Rico Department of Natural Resources, thanks to the "wet-foot, dry-foot" policy that guarantees they can stay in the United States if they make it to U.S. soil, the Miami Herald says. If caught at sea, they are returned to the Dominican Republic.
In the first three months of this year alone, at least 155 Cubans have made it to Mona Island's shores. But, U.S. officials warn of the dangerous rough water in the straits that link the Atlantic Ocean and the Caribbean Sea. Thirty-four people died attempting the trip last year.
