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Seven Cuban citizens were intercepted this Tuesday by agents of the Military Police of Roraima while crossing the Tacutu River irregularly at the border between Brazil and Guyana, authorities reported.
During the operation, agents from the 5th Independent Company of the Border Military Police (CIPMFron) encountered the migrants on the right bank of the river, near the Federal Police outpost in the municipality of Bonfim, according to reports cited by local news outlets.
The seven detainees were identified only by the initials of their names: E.G.M. (53 years old), S.C.R. (20), R.P.M. (29), O.S.O. (59), D.D.T.M. (52), K.D.M.L. (26), and L.A.V. (23).
According to unofficial information obtained by the news portal Folha BV, each immigrant is said to have paid approximately 1,000 dollars to intermediaries to facilitate their irregular entry into Brazilian territory.
The individuals responsible for the migrants' transfer were not found during the searches conducted by the police in the area.
After the detention, the seven Cubans were taken to the Federal Police outpost in Bonfim.
The incident occurs within the context of intensified police operations at Brazil's northern border during 2026. On May 22, the Federal Highway Police rescued 21 immigrants —18 Cubans, two Chinese, and one Haitian— in three vehicles in Boa Vista and arrested two Brazilian traffickers.
On May 16, 10 Cubans —including two children aged two and four— were traveling cramped in a car without back seats when they were intercepted on the BR-401 highway in the municipality of Cantá. The 27-year-old driver had charged $50 to take each person and was arrested.
Days earlier, 31 Cubans who crossed the Tacutu River in canoes from Guyana were intercepted in Bonfim. One man was arrested as an alleged facilitator.
The exodus of Cubans to Brazil has increased in recent years. The most commonly used route by migrants from the island to reach the South American country begins with a flight from Havana to Georgetown, the capital of Guyana — the only country in the region that does not require a visa for Cuban citizens — continues overland to the border, and crosses the Tacutu River into Roraima, proceeding along BR-401 towards southern Brazil.
This route became particularly established from 2024, when the tightening of U.S. immigration policies partially closed the path to the north.
Between 2024 and May 2026, the Federal Highway Police in Roraima rescued 189 immigrants on federal roads in the state, arrested 31 traffickers, and confiscated 31 vehicles; approximately 91% of the migrants were Cuban.
The unstoppable flow of Cuban migrants is a response to the economic and social collapse of the island, characterized by chronic blackouts, food shortages, and political repression. Asylum requests in Brazil from migrants coming from Cuba skyrocketed by 88% in just one year, increasing from approximately 22,300 in 2024 to over 41,900 in 2025, making Cubans the leading nationality requesting refuge in that country, surpassing Venezuelans.
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