A group of at least 16 Cubans, including several young people from Niquero in the Granma province, has gone missing after departing in three boats headed for Jamaica.
According to family members, at least one of the ships reportedly sank near the Jamaican coast.
The missing individuals departed on Sunday from the area known as Palma de la Cruz, in the granmense municipality of Niquero, heading to Montego Bay (Jamaica), as reported to CiberCuba by Yariennis Guevara Tamayo, a relative of some of the crew members.
"Three boats set out. There's the video I sent you, showing their boat capsizing. Those who were nearby say they stayed next to the dinghy. That was around three or four in the afternoon on Tuesday. But there hasn't been any further news," Guevara reported.
The young woman explained that the three vessels that departed from the southern coast of Granma drifted apart during the journey.
One of them, in which their family members were traveling, sank near Jamaica, but so far there has been no confirmation of rescues or official reports.
"We want help, for them to assist us in searching over there, around Cabo Cruz, which is the route to Jamaica. Or even in Jamaica itself, for them to go out and search. We can't take it anymore," he implored.
The family, in desperation, is asking Cubans living in Jamaica to try to find out if the travelers were rescued by the Jamaican coast guard or if they remain adrift.
According to information confirmed to this outlet, among the identified missing persons are:
- Idionis Bilte, 28 years old
- Yoni Alejandro Tamayo, 18 years old
- Omar Guevara Pérez, 50 years old
- Danni Guevara Tamayo, 28 years old
Other crew members are said to be from Las Coloradas and Palma de la Cruz, coastal communities in Niquero, from where, according to relatives, several groups have left in recent days heading to Jamaica, fleeing the economic and social crisis in Cuba.
Guevara noted that no bodies or remains of the boat have been found, and that the lack of an official response is exacerbating the families' distress.
"We want to know about our family, to find out if they are alive or dead. But not knowing anything is the most painful," she expressed with sorrow.
Guevara explained that some residents of Jamaica, Cubans who are legal residents in that country, were the ones who alerted families in Cuba about the possible shipwreck.
"They communicated with people over there and that’s how we received the information," he said.
The family urgently asks Cubans living in Jamaica to confirm whether the missing have been rescued by the coast guard or if they remain missing.
"We have written to several institutions, but no one replies, and no one answers the phones," she lamented.
From the United States, where he resides, Guevara described the anguish that his relatives in Cuba are experiencing. "My aunt lost both of her sons and the father of one of them. People are desperate, crying in the streets. They are young kids, without jobs, without food, without medicine, without anything. No one is answering for that suffering community," he said, his voice breaking.
He also explained that the bad weather conditions may have caused the shipwreck. “There was a cold front, the sea was very rough, the waves were high, and it seems that the boat capsized. I don’t understand anything,” he recounted.
Moved, she made a plea for solidarity: “To all the Cubans in Jamaica, please help us. We don’t want anything material, just to hear from them, even if it’s to bring them back alive. Let them help us, for the Cuban has a big heart.”
Cuban authorities have not issued any official communication regarding the disappearance, and there is no evidence of search or rescue operations in the Caribbean Sea by either Cuban or Jamaican authorities.
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