A total of 19 Cuban rafters,17 men and two women, were repatriated to the island this Friday morning through the Port of Orozco, in the Bahía Honda municipality, province of Artemisa, according to the Ministry of the Interior (MININT).
Those returned by the United States Coast GuardThey had left the country in a sail and motor boat on April 5, through Cárdenas, in Matanzas, according to the official source.
The MININT also indicated that“Due to bad weather, they sailed for approximately nine days until they were intercepted.”
One of the returnees was transferred to the MININT investigation body for being the “alleged perpetrator of a criminal act that was being investigated before becoming involved in the illegal departure.”
This Friday was the 29th Cuban migrant return operation so far this year from different countries in the region.So far a total of 374 Cubans have been returned to the island.
The Seventh District of the US Coast Guard also reported the repatriation by the cutter William Trump of almost twenty Cubans, whoThey had been intercepted near Key West, in the Forida Keys.
Although the repatriation did not materialize until this Friday morning,It was Monday that the United States Border Patrol (USBP)reported the rescue at sea of the 19 rafters.
According to that agency, the operation was carried out by agents from the Air and Maritime Operations (AMO) patrol, who intercepted an “improvised boat that was seriously overloaded and in danger.”
Last week, the United States Coast Guard alsorepatriated another 16 Cuban rafters, who had been arrested in that case also very close to the Florida Keys andwhose arrival had gone viral on social networks.
Despite calls not to make this type of journey, many Cubans continue to risk their lives in pursuit of a future away from repression and scarcity on the Island.
Helatest report of the Border Patrol points out that20,815 Cubans arrived at the US borders in the second month of the year, while in January the figure was 22,946.
From them,6,559 arrived by sea, despite the tightening of credible fear interviews for rafters, the majority of whom are being repatriated to Cuba.
However, the number of people intercepted at sea, including the current 19, is 367, so far in the fiscal year that began on October 1, 2023.
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