An immigration judge in Miami this Wednesday granted political asylum to the two Cubans who landed in Key West, Florida, last March, transported on a motorized hang glider.
According to attorney Willfredo Allen, who represented Ismael Hernández Chirino and David López Alfonso, the judge granted them asylum after both passed the credible fear interview.
Una jueza de Inmigración les concedió el asilo político a los pilotos quienes escaparon de Cuba a bordo de un ala delta. pic.twitter.com/R3gVn3t38F
— Univision 23 Miami (@Univision23) July 6, 2023
However, the United States government appealed this decision, according to local media.
López Alfonso and Hernández Chirino will remain in the Krome detention center for now, according to the AméricaTeVé report.
News in March
On the morning of Saturday, March 25, the two Cubans landed at the Key West International Airport in a motorized hang glider.
The men, who some identified as the “flying rafters,” had left from Havana. Later, the Cuban Aviation Club denounced the theft of the hang glider.
According to the Cuban Aviation Club, the ultralight aviation equipment, of the “Trike” type, was owned by said club and had registration CU-U 1619.
“They didn’t steal it, they had the right to use the hang glider. They took it and left it here in the United States. Now it’s up to Cuba and the United States to return it,” said attorney Allen.
Said hang glider “provided services to tourism, in the Air Sports modality, in the Playas del Este de La Habana tourist destination,” according to what was said from Havana.
Dos cubanos a bordo de un ala delta motorizada aterrizan en el aeropuerto de Key West
In October 2002, a Cuban pilot landed at the Dade-Collier Training and Transition Airport, located in the middle of the immense Everglades wetland, aboard an old Russian-made Antonov single-engine plane.
This man, named Rubén Martínez Machado, also received political asylum in February.
