A familiar story then and now popped up again the 9 Aug. 1973 Cayman Compass: ‘More Cubans Trek Here’. This time, 38 Cubans arrived in George Town on a boat that was hijacked from Havana. According to a 19-year-old passenger, who was the only one on board who spoke English, the escape had been planned for six months, with most hiding in trees and such places until they left the Cuban capital just before midnight on 1 Aug. The youngest passenger was the 10-month-old son of the ‘leader of the expedition’, who worked as a boat pilot.
While the crew of five asked to return to Cuba, the rest, which included 11 children, were temporarily housed at the Prospect Youth Centre. A government spokesman noted the refugee problem was becoming serious, as “we have no means of keeping them”.
Speaking of familiar topics, government was embarking on a “programme of rehabilitation and surfacing the main roads from West Bay through George Town to Bodden Town”. A road building unit within the Public Works Department was being specially set up to deal with constructing all roads in Cayman. Overseas experts in hot mix asphalt were being brought in, with the article explaining, “Asphalt concrete is the most modern type of surfacing and was used on the Owen Roberts Airport”.
There was also more news from Mariculture Ltd, the precursor of the Cayman Turtle Centre. A ‘tour shop’ was officially opening, with government officials, plus “leading hoteliers and members of the tourist industry and commerce” expected to attend. Items on sale would cover “Everything made from the famed green sea turtle”, which would include jewellery and turtle leather goods.
And, finally, ‘Governor’s Harbour Sea Wall Completed in Record Time’, which the project manager attributed to “A combination of Caymanian skill. hard work and local merchant co-operation”. The 19,500-foot wall required 12,675 cubic yards of concrete, which would have equalled 64.8 miles of sidewalk.
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