Thirty-three Cubans smuggled into Mexico, eighteen make it to the US

There is a vicious circle that involves the US, Cuba and Mexico.  There are solutions to the problem it causes but they're not an easy, and they won't happen any time soon.

Last week 33 Cubans in a makeshift boat were picked up en route to Mexico.  Two men on a yacht took them onboard and then to Mexico.  Once in Mexico, they were detained and sent to a detention facility for undocumented "migrants" (note the use of this word instead of the word "refugee," but I digress). Aboard the bus with Mexican officials who were, by all accounts, unarmed, they were hijacked while on a remote jungle road.  What next?  So far it sounds like a movie plot.  Details are sketchy, at least, they are not being released, but what has been reported is that the bus was later abandoned on a jungle road and the hijackers fled. It was also reported that 15 of the Cubans are nowhere to be found, having disappeared after the hijacking.  Eighteen of the Cubans were then put into different groups, given cash and Mexican identification to get past military checkpoints in Mexico, and they later made it to Texas.  The immigration officials on the bus as well as the drivers were detained for possible implication in the hijacking and the men on the yacht, Cubans who live in Miami, wee detained for smuggling the Cubans. They were offered bail but refused because they fear for their lives.

What is unclear to me is 1) Why were the officials unarmed?  Seems that immigration officials in Mexico, who are dealing with problems of undocumented Central Americans (there were 4 Central Americans on the bus, in fact) entering Mexico illegally en route to the US, would be armed.  2) Why was the bus hijacked?  It was left on a jungle road.  Why would a hijacker want to take over a busload of people instead of a less-occupied vehicle?

So, is this just another typical tale of unfortunate events for Cubans seeking freedom?  It's a more and more common problem- human smugglers bringing Cubans into Mexico and then to the US for about $15,000.  That's US Dollars, not pesos. Do Mexican officials get a piece of that to turn the other cheek?  Do Cuban authorities get a piece of that money to allow a boatload of people escape?  What do you think?  If relatives of the Cubans who are smuggled cannot pay the $15,000, the Cubans are made to work off the debt.  This raises all kinds of questions as to what these people are made to do to erase their debt.

So here is the cycle if you didn't follow.  I apologize for pointing out the obvious but in case you didn't see the connection:

• Cubans are not allowed to freely leave the island to emigrate to other countries.
• The United States, by virtue of the "Wet Foot/Dry Foot" policy, encourages Cubans to try to get here by sea and get to dry land.
• Mexican "coyotes" can make a nice chunk of change by smuggling Cubans into Mexico and then the US to dry land. It is said that Cubans in Mexico also take part in this process.

Solution?  Obviously, let Cubans leave Cuba.  That would take care of the rafters who risk their lives to flee. Of course, once they flee, they still have to make it to dry land.  And that policy won't be changing any time soon.  For as much as he loves Cubans and has brought their plight to the forefront, George W. Bush has had 8 years to undue this Clinton policy and has chosen not to do so.   

Anyone else have a simpler solution?