Marathon Swimmers Navigate Bloodied Waters Littered With Cuban Corpses

2013-08-07 Peter Fechter
Peter Fechter was shot in the back trying to climb the Berlin Wall and left to beg and plead in the mud until he finally died.

That’s the arresting title of this post, which I saw on Facebook yesterday evening. In it, Rai compares the fatalities of those who tried to escape communist East Germany and died on the Berlin Wall with the many thousands who have perished trying to cross the open waters between Cuba and Florida.

2013-08-07 Pacifier
This pacifier was found on an abandoned raft miles off the coast of Florida. The bodies of the child and her parents were never recovered.

In contrast to these grim and tragic tales, Rai talks about the ultra-marathon swimmers who hobnob with the communist rulers of Cuba and, on their self-aggrandizing trek back to Florida, swim through waves that serve as the graves for countless thousands who died seeking their freedom.