14ymedio, Havana, January 26, 2024 — Cienfuegos fisherman Jacinto Octavio Rivero Li and a teenager who accompanied him, Alexander Turiño Nualla, were found alive this Thursday in a key on the southern coast of Cuba, after missing at sea for five days. The authorities have not offered details, but several publications on social networks claim that, after going fishing early last Sunday, their boat was dragged out to sea by a storm.
The versions of the rescue of Rivero, known as “El Chino” Li, and 14-year-old Turiño, differ in the place where they were found. While some locate the key to the west of the Isla de la Juventud, others claim that they were found in Cayo Sigua, an islet in Matanzas near the Cienfuegos coast. A third version – impossible because of the distance and for being in the north of Cuba – says that both had ended up in the Bahamas.
The images of the rescue of Rivero and Turiño show two uniformed men of Search and Rescue of the Ministry of the Interior
The images of the rescue of Rivero and Turiño show two uniformed men of Search and Rescue of the Ministry of the Interior, who allegedly answered the call of a fishing boat that located the cienfuegueros on the islet where they were found.
The physical change of the teenager is notable. In the rescue photos he appears much thinner and emaciated compared to the images disseminated during the search.
According to the publications, on January 20, the teenager, a resident of the Cienfuegos neighborhood of Tulipán, went fishing with Rivero on an aluminum boat from Punta de Tamarindo, near the beach of Rancho Luna. Several users indicated on Facebook that both had been seen for the last time at 4:00 in the morning on Sunday the 21st, when the light of the boat could be seen from the coast.
From that moment on, nothing else was known, and both relatives and people close to Rivero and Turiño began to report their disappearance on social networks. Some even point out that they both decided to go fishing despite the fact that they had been warned about the bad weather.
The family, according to the same sources, also notified the Cienfuegos police of their absence, and ground searches were even carried out.
An insistent comment in the publications that narrate the rescue has been the surprise that both were found alive
An insistent comment in the publications that narrate the rescue has been the surprise that both were found alive, something that has not happened in many of the disappearances that have been reported in recent weeks.
This is the case of Yorjelguis Bolaños Fernández, a 41-year-old Cuban living in the United States who disappeared on January 7 in Madruga (Mayabeque) and was found dead 10 days later. According to unconfirmed information, his body was found buried near the Institute of Animal Science (ICA), in San José de las Lajas, and the cause of death was stabbing.
On December 28, the independent press also reported the violent murder of Eugenio García, a 25-year-old who had been missing for days. García had left his house carrying 1,300,000 pesos with him to buy foreign currency on the informal market. Two days later, the young man was found dead “under a bridge,” apparently killed by a “beating” to steal his money.
Translated by Regina Anavy
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