Amphi truck from cuba update

  • Thread starter Thread starter dougparsons@ameritech.net
  • Start date Start date
I reckon all amphibians can relate to his story ending statement
below.


Allen said Grass' ``greatest frustration was that he was stuck at sea
and he was not able to land in Miami and drive up to the beach.''


Okay, if anybody finds this guy I'll try to have him as a guest
speaker at Celina... maybe even give him his own column in the
newsletter.

Amphipoda~
 
Re: Re: Amphi truck from cuba update

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<div style="FONT: 10pt arial">----- Original Message -----
<div style="BACKGROUND: #e4e4e4; FONT: 10pt arial; font-color: black">From: Amphipoda
<div style="FONT: 10pt arial">To: amphicar-lovers@yahoogroups.com
<div style="FONT: 10pt arial">Sent: Tuesday, March 22, 2005 7:02 AM
<div style="FONT: 10pt arial">Subject: [amphicar-lovers] Re: Amphi truck from cuba update

<tt>

I reckon all amphibians can relate to his story ending statement
below.


Allen said Grass' ``greatest frustration was that he was stuck at sea
and he was not able to land in Miami and drive up to the beach.''


Okay, if anybody finds this guy I'll try to have him as a guest
speaker at Celina... maybe even give him his own column in the
newsletter.

Amphipoda~

</blockquote>

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<font face="Times New Roman" color="#0000ff" size="4">One not-so-small point is being overlooked in this story.</font>
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<font face="Times New Roman" color="#0000ff" size="4">The Grass' two amphibious attempts to escape Cuba were bold, andif notthwarted by the USCG interceptions, they would have made it.</font>
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<font face="Times New Roman" color="#0000ff" size="4">The last, and successful, attempt seems to involve a certain amount of duplicity and illegality. The story seems to say that the family was allowed to emmigrate to Costa Rica. However, rather than make a new life in Costa Rica, the family opted to then enter the USA across the Mexico / Texas border.</font>
<font face="Times New Roman" color="#0000ff" size="4"></font>
<font face="Times New Roman" color="#0000ff" size="4">Cuban refugees are treated somewhat uniquely when fleeing Cuba; if they manage to get ashore in the USA, they are usually granted asylum. If intercepted at sea, they are usually returned to Cuba. I don't understand the sanity of all that, but I understand the process.</font>
<font face="Times New Roman" color="#0000ff" size="4"></font>
<font face="Times New Roman" color="#0000ff" size="4">However, as I see this case, the Grass family had already gotten out of Cuba (via the USCG interception, a side journey to the US base at Guantanamo, and then an offer of asylum in Costa Rica). The political climate of Costa Rica is quite different from that of Cuba, and the USA does not offer asylum to people fleeing from Costa Rica. Illegally entering the USA from Costa Rica is not the same as entering from Cuba.</font>
<font face="Times New Roman" color="#0000ff" size="4"></font>
<font face="Times New Roman" color="#0000ff" size="4">Costa Rica may not have been their most desired destination, but it would have been a vast improvement over Cuba. And finally, they could then have begun the process for a legal emmigration to the USA. But the news stories all seem to be avoiding this last, illegal activity.</font>
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<font face="Times New Roman" color="#0000ff" size="4">Ed
El Cajon, CA USA
67 Rust Guppy
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Thanks for the "heads up" Doug about the Grass family and their experiences. You are doing work in Miami - why don't you see if you can look them up or get their address and phone. I don't speak any Spanish - do you ? I wish you and I had gotten on this subject at Mount Dora and I would have picked your brain more on the matter.

A few years ago, 3 East German's defected in a carefully pre-arrangedplan where they were picked up in the Florida straits by a speed boat waiting for them. Actually, the story is a bit stranger than that - 2 of the men had planned the escape and a small plane flew over and waggled its wings to tell them that the plan was a "go" at which point they took off their shoes and socks and dove off the East German cruise ship. Another East German on the opposite side of the deck saw what was happening, figured things out, and dove over the other side !. A club to which I belonged made contact with the three of them and we managed to invite them them to our monthly club dinner. They spoke no English, but I speak passable German, having been stationedin Germany some time ago and speaking my Bayerish (Bavarian) whenever I have the chance in orderto keep it up. I acted as translater and we had a mighty interesting evening asking them questions and hearing their answers. As most of us realize, for a foreigner, let alone a really materially deprived East German, these three were literally overwhelmed by what they saw - what the stores had readily for sale, by the number of automobiles, etc. All of this lead to some pretty interesting reactions.

With the Grasses, whoknows someone might be able to get them to essentially build a duplicate of one or both of theirvehicles. It smellslike the making of a good movie. Do any of you remember a movie which I think was titled "Night Crossing" where two East German familes with absolutely no ballooning experience undertook to construct a huge hot air balloon and then successfully drifted across the border toWest Germany, landing within 10 miles of where I had lived near a town named Naila in Bavaria.The whole project was very involved and of course, entirely surreptitious, and took weeks of planning, procuring the necessary materials all surreptitiously so as not to attract any attention. Imagine how many yards of material a balloon for 2 families (with some children) would have required, let alone the logistics of the Propane, the burner, etc.

Vic Nelson with the 1967 "Split Personality"
 
>>>>Do any of you remember a movie which I think was titled "Night
Crossing" where two East German familes with absolutely no
ballooning experience undertook to construct a huge hot air balloon
and then successfully drifted across the border to West Germany,....

Vic,

I rememebr that movie. Better yet, I have met those folks a few
times. After thier ordeal, they moved to Colorado and live only 10
mins from me.

I for one would be happy to help out our Cuban Amphibians in any
way I can.

John
 
Re: Re: Amphi truck from cuba update

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John -
I have a recollection of having some conversation with someone about one of the families involved in that Ballooning sagamoving to Colorado. Possibly, it was you who told me on a previous oaccasion about knowing them or having talked with them. It was my understanding on a visit to the area in Germany in 1989 that the other family still lived in the vicinity of Naila ( landkreis Hof ) not far from where they had landed.

I presume you saw the movie, did you not. It was quite a movie don't you think, let alone quite an escape. Some of the same elements as these Grasses and their efforts. Vic
 
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