8/1994-Al Diaz/Miami Herald-- A raft washes ashore along the Malecon in Havana and is stripped for its inner tubes. At first, Cubans worked secretly inside their apartments. on rooftops and in backyards to build the rafts and oars that they needed. Soon after, people sat openly on the beach, selling inner tubes and ready-made rafts that had floated back from the sea. During the summer of 1994, Cuban balseros left the communist country by the thousands seeking a better life.