Elizabeth Meizoso was a happy toddler who liked to pose with her mom’s sunglasses. She is seen dressed all in white with a bow headband in one picture. In another, she is driving a toy red car. Smiling relatives hold her while taking selfies posted on Facebook. She had just turned two in August.
Since Saturday, those pictures embodied the tragedy lived by one Cuban family who lost Elizabeth and two other members when they all drowned after the boat in which they were trying to flee the island for the United States collided with a Cuban coast guard vessel and capsized, according to the official government version.
The incident occurred near Bahía Honda, a coastal town west of Havana where the Meizoso family is from. According to Cuba’s Interior Ministry, the government vessel was trying to “identify” the speedboat that came from the U.S. in an alleged human trafficking operation when the collision happened. As a result, five people died and 18 were rescued, said the ministry statement, which did not identify the victims.
