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Eleven Cuban rafters missing after leaving Ciego de Ávila for the Cayman Islands

The group of Cubans is made up of four women and seven men, all adults.

Balseros cubanos desaparecidos © Cortesía a CiberCuba
Missing Cuban rafters Photo © Courtesy of CiberCuba

This article is from 1 year ago

Once Cuban rafters They are missing since mid-April, when they left Ciego de Ávila on a homemade boat heading to the Cayman Islands, a family source informed CyberCuba.

The group of Cubans – made up of four women and seven men, all adults – left through the southern part of Ciego de Ávila, Júcaro, on April 14, in a boat without a motor that some of them made at home, and since then there has been no news.

According to the information provided to CyberCuba by the sister of one of them, four of the 11 missing rafters are named Yumilaisy Espinosa García, 29 years old; Yosdel García Ortiz, 32; Nelson Cabrera, 23, and Damian Batista, 22.

On the same April 14, the date on which the missing rafters left Cuba, a boat with around 12 Cuban immigrants ran aground in Spot Bay, Cayman Brac, but they were all men.

On April 22, the Cayman Islands Customs and Border Control Service confirmed the arrival of a non-motorized boat to Cayman Brac around four in the afternoon. There were six men and three women on board, for a total of nine Cuban rafters. Although the identity of the migrants has not been revealed and the statement does not specify whether they will be returned to Cuba, the source confirmed to this portal that it is not the same case.

"It's not them. I already found out with Emigration. I live in the Cayman Islands," he said.

In early April, another relative of a Cuban rafter contacted CyberCuba for report the disappearance of his brother and two other young people, who left Caimito, Artemisa province, on March 3.

The young people – identified as Abdiel Domínguez, Misael Yurisel Herrera Aliaga and Anyer Casero – left Cuba in a rustic rowing and sailing boat, without an engine. The families have not heard from them since, but it is believed that the case may be related to the rescue of three Cuban rafters who had been stranded on an island near Anguilla Cay, Bahamas.

"It was not known if it was them because they did not say their name, only that they were three Cubans, and one of their girlfriends saw the news and says that the boat was the one they left on, but nothing else is known," then declared to CyberCuba the brother of one of the missing young people.

The figure of Cuban rafters intercepted on the high seas or detained upon arrival on the coasts of Florida so far this fiscal year (since October 1, 2021) exceeds 1,500.

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