This Friday, the United States Coast Guard (USCG) repatriated 16 Cuban rafters detained very close to the Florida Keys and whose arrival had gone viral on social networks.
A publication from that agency in
According to an image posted by the USCG, the rafters traveled in a homemade boat made with polyfoam sheets and a motor.
It was the same raft that was sighted by Cuban-American fishermen last Sunday, very close to Key West.
Dairo Alfonso Paes published ashort video on TikTok with images of the emotional moment when they discovered the presence of the rafters in the sea, and began to shout at them: "Don't stop, keep going straight, they're coming. Don't stop, damn it, keep going straight," a man can be heard saying in the video.
The fisherman explained that they could only give instructions and words of encouragement to the rafters, because in US waters it is not allowed to approach the boats, or offer any other type of help.
"It was in the morning, three miles from Key West. We saw them but couldn't help them further. Then we continued on our way to fish," Alfonso wrote on April 7.
The arrival of rafters to South Florida reflects the persistence of the Cuban migration crisis.
This Friday the United States Border Patrol (USBP) rescued 14 Cubans who arrived at the Dry Tortugas National Park in a rustic boat.
The USBP representative in the Miami sector, Samuel Briggs II, reported that his agents, with support from the Coast Guard, "rescued14 Cuban migrants who arrived at Dry Tortugas National Park in a homemade boat.
Last week, another 14 Cuban migrants landed in the Florida Keys aboard a rustic boat aftera journey of almost 30 hours.
The Customs and Border Protection Office (CBP) revealed that in February at least 6,796 Cuban irregular immigrantsthey tried to enter to the country by sea.
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