A South Florida audience watched 10 Cuban men fight with federal authorities live on TV before they were stopped short of reaching U.S. soil.

BY CHARLES RABIN AND ELAINE DE VALLE
crabin@herald.com

  CBS4 Video | Coast Guard approaches Cuban rafters

A South Florida television audience got a rare peek at interdiction on the open seas Friday when 10 desperate Cuban men defiantly struggled with U.S.authorities for more than an hour, trying to reach the U.S. mainland -- and the chance of freedom.

In the end, the Coast Guard and Department of Homeland Security succeeded in stopping the men about a mile east of Miami-Dade's Haulover Beach -- but not before a Homeland Security go-fast boat smacked into the metallic homemade craft, rocking it and sending four of the men spilling into the sea. Soon after, the others on board raised their hands in surrender.

The Cubans' scramble, captured by South Florida TV news cameras, dramatically underscored a controversial U.S. policy that, for the past 10 years, has generally allowed Cubans who touch land here to stay in the United States.

Those who don't make it to shore usually get returned to Cuba.

Hundreds of such interdictions occur off Florida each year. Most are revealed but U.S. authorities -- but few ever make it onto live TV.