A shrimp trawler leaves Colombia with a load of cocaine headed for Miami. The vessel has the name "Norma Jean" and the homeport "Key West" painted on the stern. The vessel is legally registered in the U.S. and has the appropriate documents on board. A Mexican cartel hijacks the vessel and kills the U.S. crew in the Yucatan Channel 10 miles northeast of Cancun, Mexico. They head towards the Bahamas where they intend to sell the cocaine. They take down the U.S. flag on the vessel and paint over the homeport and change it to "Havana" to discourage the U.S. Coast Guard from boarding the vessel. They are spotted in the Florida Straits 25 miles north of Havana by a Cuban patrol boat who hails them on the radio and orders them to stop their vessel to be boarded. The smugglers tell them that they are a U.S. flag vessel and that all of the people on board are Mexican citizens. Does the Cuban patrol boat have the right under international law to board, search, and seize the vessel and arrest the people on board for possession of narcotics? Explain ALL the reasons why or why not. If you believe that any part of your answer depends on additional facts which you do not have, state what facts you need and what the answer would be if those facts existed, i.e.; "If _________, then ______________." Remember to footnote and cite all your references in proper Blue Book format.
Required minimum-500 words