A young Cuban couple was detained earlier this month in the city of Iași, Romania, when they were trying to enter Romanian territory on an inflatable boat from Moldova, the country to which they were returned.
The couple, a 27-year-old man and a 22-year-old woman, were seen by authorities when they were trying to cross the Prut River in the early hours of April 3, the natural border between both Eastern European nations, near the Black Sea.
These people have not been identified so far. A regular passage between the capital of Romania, Iași, and Chisinau, capital of Moldova, is possible by road by bus and costs $40. Hardly any details are known about how these Cubans got there.
The young people told the authorities that they had been traveling from Middle Eastern countries and that they were seeking to cross Europe with the intention of reaching Spain, according to a report fromMartí News.
The Romanian Border Police reported that the arrest was possible despite the darkness of the early morning because they used thermovision cameras, a device that detects objects or people by their temperature. They were intercepted when the small boat reached the town of Golăeşti, in Romania, according to the police.
The commissioner of the Romanian Border Police,Denis Mihaela Lazar, confirmed that "the people declared that they were Cuban citizens who came from Dubai and that their intention was to arrive at the train station to continue their trip through Europe and reach Spain to reunite with their families."
Dubai is more than 3,500 kilometers away from Moldova by sea and more than 5,000 kilometers by road. Access from Dubai to Eastern European countries is possible by air and also by land, with the risk involved in crossing war zones such as Iran and Afghanistan, to reach the Black Sea.
The route between Romania and Spain also involves a similar distance and requires passing through countries of the European Economic Community, for which a Schengen visa is required, which allows transit through countries such as Hungary, Austria, Italy and France.
The two Cubans were wearing light clothes, coats and sports shoes. Before leaving the territory of Moldova, the couple left the inflatable boat wrapper and an air pump on the side of the Prut River. Both objects were found and occupied by the Moldovan Border Police.
A photograph released by the Romanian Patrol Police showed both people handcuffed. This fact is under investigation, according to the most recent information released by the Romanian Border Police.
“In this case, border police are carrying out investigations into the alleged crime of fraudulent crossing of the state border,” said Police Commissioner Lazăr.
He also assured that both Cubans "were handed over to the border authorities of the neighboring state (Moldova) under the readmission agreement between Romania and the Republic of Moldova."
Said bilateral readmission agreement allows that in cases like this, people are returned to the country they previously visited and are held for 72 hours by local authorities to clarify the purpose and exact circumstances of the event.
Current situation of Cubans
The communications department of the Romanian Border Police reported that once they arrived on the Moldovan side, the two young Cubans requested asylum. Now the case is in the hands of the Moldovan authorities, who will decide whether to grant them asylum or order deportation.
For her part, the Cuban ambassador in the capital of Romania,Deborah Ojeda, told the aforementioned media that he has no information about the situation of these migrants, nor about the status of their asylum application.
The Cuban diplomatic representative also refused to provide details about the number of irregular Cuban migrants who have used this route so far. He also did not offer the figure of how many Cubans live legally in Romania, arguing that he does not have access to the database.
This is not the first time that reports have emerged about Cuban citizens following irregular migration routes similar to the case of this couple. In previous reported cases, people also intended to reach Spain.
EUROPOL recognizes the existence of "mafias" involved in this type of human trafficking through the territories of European countries, composed of citizens of various nationalities.
In July 2023 it wasdismantled a transnational criminal organization that illegally trafficked Cuban citizens in collaboration, as announced by the Spanish Ministry of the Interior, which collaborated with INTERPOL and EUROPOL agents.
The migrants traveled from Cuba to Serbia, a country that at the time did not require a visa for Cubans, from where they were transferred to Greece and then to Spain.
It is estimated that the organization was able to traffic more than 5 thousand Cubans from whom they would have charged 9 thousand euros, which would mean a profit of about 45 million euros.
A total of 62 people were arrested in Spain, Serbia and Greece, of which 25 were Cubans who had false documentation, while another 37 belonged to the criminal organization.
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