FLORIDA : Cuban Exile Flotilla Marks Boat Sinking

An anti-Castro Cuban exile flotilla of about 20 boats held a memorial service without incident in international waters 13 miles off Cuba, the U.S. Coast Guard said. The flotilla marked the second anniversary of the sinking of the Cuban tugboat Thirteen of March by Cuban patrol boats. Forty-one Cuban civilians trying to flee the Communist-run island nation reportedly drowned in the incident. Exiles say the stolen tug, packed with refugees, was deliberately rammed and sprayed with high-pressure hoses. Cuban President Fidel Castro’s government claims the sinking was an accident. The anniversary was marked last year by a similar flotilla whose participants cast wreaths into the sea.