medicine and food shortages sparked unprecedented demonstrations against the government. and the biggest exodus to the us since the 1959 cuban revolution. many put their lives in the hands of human smugglers on dangerous journeys across central america. others took a shorter but treacherous route. the nearest point to cuba is about 70 miles. the south florida straits can turn deadly very quickly. there are sharks, there are jellyfish. storms can pop up unexpectedly. hundreds have died or gone missing.

this is the story of three cubans who risked everything to leave their island for florida. ola.

in 2019, elian was living in varadero with his wife and daughter. it was the mecca of tourism for communist—run cuba. for years, he had been teaching diving and water sports to tourists. with a strict trading embargo imposed by the usa since the 1960s, tourism brought a vital source of foreign currency to cuba — around us$12 billion in 2019. for 30 years, cuba was supported by its communist ally, the soviet union. but when the socialist bloc collapsed in the 1990s,

cubans faced a daily struggle to survive. elian had recovered from bowel cancer but after surgery, he could not source enough colostomy bags. but complaining against the cuban regime was difficult. growing up in santiago de cuba, 22—year—old celimar learned this from a young age.

celimar�*s father was a dissident. that had repercussions for the whole family. the impact of the lockdown, the lack of tourism and us trade sanctions meant cuba was plunged into its deepest crisis in decades.

chanting on 11 july 2021, protests swept across the streets of cuba. some of the largest anti—government demonstrations since 1959. alejandro was a soldier living in havana. it wasn't long before

protesters say events turned violent.

cubans who wanted to leave the country face travel restrictions abroad. but four months after the protest, nicaragua, a long—standing ally, unexpectedly lifted the requirement for visiting cubans to have a visa. it was the chance celimar had been waiting for. celimar knew if she could get to nicaragua, gangs of smugglers would

transport her illegally across central america to the us, where her father was living. celimar was travelling on her own. but along the route, she joined thousands of other cubans and migrants from all over central america.

within months, it would become cuba's largest exodus since 1959. back in cuba, the situation was more than elian could bear. for the sake of his family's future, he decided he had to go. he chose to do it in the way he knew best.

elian was going to attempt a 90—mile crossing on his beloved windsurf board.

alejandro didn't have a passport, so he couldn't fly to nicaragua. he managed to sell his motorbike to buy an inflatable kayak. but he had never been out at sea further than the beach.

alejandro spent the day on the beach practising with the kayak. and then, when it got dark, it was time to go. in the skies above, the us coast guard were patrolling the waters. as 2022 continued, they noticed a rapid increase in cuban migrant boats. cubans who could not afford to pay smugglers to traffic them through nicaragua were taking to the sea in record numbers.

for my aircrews, it was not uncommon to see six, seven, eight, nine contacts in a single five—hour patrol in the south florida straits. the vessels are often home—made with tarps, wood, straps, car engines, lawnmower engines, no engines, handmade paddles with a piece of plywood nailed to a broomstick. unfortunately, what we see is while many do make it, you know, hundreds still die trying to make it, and that's the hardest part about ourjob. down on the water, elian was now stranded because of a lack of wind. his situation was becoming more and more dangerous.

elian�*s fear of having to spend the night on the surfboard was becoming real.

from nicaragua, celimar had travelled across honduras and guatemala and then, crossed into mexico,

evading the migration police. in mexico, celimar was hidden in a safe house controlled by the cartels. after windsurfing for nearly two days, elian was drifting closer to florida but he had pushed his body to its limits.

elian was rescued just after sunset. he received urgent medical care. after three days, alejandro

thought he could see lights on the horizon. as the sun rose, he realised it was a hotel. after 13 days on the road, celimar was getting close to the us border.

but there was one final challenge — the notorious rio bravo. because of the strong currents, many migrants have died on this crossing, and celimar was trying to cross in winter. at the start of 2023, following a record influx of migrants, the us government took radical action. in texas, troops were deployed

to the mexican border. and a new parole programme was introduced. cubans who entered the us illegally would not be eligible to apply. with elian already in florida, his wife and daughter had been making the dangerous crossing by land from nicaragua. they made it over the us border just before the new system came into effect. all three of them are now applying for asylum. celimar is now also living in florida with herfather. she is also applying for leave to remain.

but under the new application system, cubans trying to come to the us now need prior authorisation. those who attempt a journey like hers risk being deported. alejandro hopes one day to bring his son to the us, via a safer route — through the new parole programme. but the new programme

is estimated to have received nearly 400,000 cuban applications already for limited places. as long as the economic crisis in cuba remains, it's feared more will risk their lives trying to leave the island.

hello there. we had some heavy rain in scotland on saturday, and as a result of that there are a number of flood warnings in force across the north of the country. we have had some disruption too. for most of the uk it was a very mild day, but not for everyone. massive contrasts in northern scotland as the mild air butted up against the cold. 10 degrees in braemar, ten miles down the road in balmoral, just one. and with those lower temperatures across the far north and east, well, on saturday we did see some snowfall. so for some, a winter wonderland. however, since then the snow has been turning back to rain and our main concern as we get through christmas eve is the strength of the winds. they could disrupt some travel plans that you may have, so stay tuned. the winds then will pick up over the next few hours, becoming quite gusty across england and wales with outbreaks of rain here. rain could be heavy enough to cause one or two localised flooding

issues across mid wales. some showery conditions across scotland and northern ireland. for most, temperatures in double figures as we start the day on sunday. cold air still just about clinging on across the far northeast. now, the strong winds will be affecting scotland through the day, particularly late on. they could bring some distruption here. and over to the east of the pennines, winds could gust 50—70 mph, potentially strong enough to blow over some high—sided vehicles, maybe knock down one or two trees. so there is a risk of seeing some transport disruption during the day on sunday, christmas eve, so it is worth checking conditions before heading out on anyjourneys you may have planned. and the winds could get even stronger actually for a time during the evening across northern scotland. 0n into monday, christmas day, for the vast majority of the uk we are in mild air, so rather than it being a white christmas it is a grey christmas. a lot of cloud around, outbreaks of rain, quite heavy rain for a time. quite windy conditions, but colder air starts to move back into northern scotland and that could start to turn some of the rain to snow across some of the higher hills of northern scotland. so for a few of you, it could just about be a white

christmas, but not for many. looking beyond that into boxing day, we get colder air moving back southwards across the uk. with that there will be a lot more in the way of sunshine, so that is one positive. it will feel quite a bit colder, mind you. and there will be some showers around, particularly across scotland. one or two for northern ireland, one or two for the north—west of both england and wales. the showers could come through wintry at times, so maybe a bit of sleet mixed in with some of these, maybe a bit of hill snow as well. bye for now.

live from washington, this is bbc news. explosion. gaza's health ministry says 200 people have been killed in the past 2a hours and hundreds more injured as israel's bombardment continues.

translation: the mask of humanity has fallen. what is going on in the corridors of the un security council is nothing more than theatre and fast. —— theatre and farce. bell tolls. a minute's silence is held in prague to remember the victims of thursday's mass shooting. and 2024 will mark donald trump's return to the courtroom: we'll take a look at the former us president's upcoming cases. hello, i'm carl nasman. we start in the middle east, where the hamas—run health ministry in gaza has said that more than 200 palestinians have been killed in the past 2a hours as air strikes continue. the israel defense forces say that five of their soldiers have been killed in the gaza strip since friday. fighting has been raging, despite a un resolution demanding more access for humanitarian deliveries. the us abstained in that vote.