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The Federal Highway Police (PRF) of Brazil rescued 108 Cuban citizens who were attempting to illegally enter the country through the border with Guyana, during an operation carried out this Monday on the BR-401, in the municipality of Cantá, state of Roraima. The institution itself described this as the largest humanitarian rescue operation recorded in a single day in that state.
The operation, part of Operation Safe Route, unfolded in three phases throughout the afternoon and evening, culminating in the immediate arrest of five individuals accused of human trafficking, known as "coyotes."
In the first phase, agents detected a convoy of vehicles that disobeyed a stop order and fled along dirt roads. After a tactical pursuit, three vehicles were intercepted with 39 people on board —including adults, the elderly, and children— transported in overcrowded conditions. According to accounts from the migrants themselves, many had gone at least two days without eating.
During the night, a second operation allowed the identification of eight more Cubans being transported irregularly, and a driver suspected of participating in the scheme was apprehended.
The third phase was the most revealing: the tracking of a suspicious vehicle led agents to a residence in Cantá where they found 61 Cubans cramped together. An automobile was also seized at the location.
All the migrants were presented to the Federal Police to initiate the immigration regularization process and their subsequent referral to the official social assistance network.
PRF agent Isaías Magalhães explained that Boa Vista is not the final destination for most: "Many of these people do not consider Boa Vista their final destination. The capital serves only as a transit point. This criminal network charges for the complete package, from the departure from Cuba to the final destination within Brazil."
With this rescue, the total number of migrants recovered by the PRF in Roraima between 2024 and June 2026 amounts to 297, with Cubans being the overwhelmingly predominant nationality.
The episode is part of a series of operations that has intensified in recent weeks.
On Tuesday, 39 Cubans were rescued as victims of a trafficking network in the same area. On June 1, nine Cubans were found cramped in a car on the BR-401, and the driver was arrested.
The most commonly used route departs from Havana by plane to Georgetown, the capital of Guyana— the only country in the region that does not require a visa for Cubans— continues by land to Lethem, and crosses the Tacutu River clandestinely into Roraima.
Traffickers charge between $300 and $2,800 per segment, promising safe crossings that in practice involve overcrowding, food deprivation, and high-risk journeys.
The flow does not cease. Cuban asylum applications in Brazil exceeded 41,900 in 2025, an increase of 88% compared to 2024, driven by the economic and social collapse in Cuba and the closure of routes to the United States.
In the first quarter of 2026, Roraima accounted for 57% of all Cuban asylum applications in the country, with 7,687 requests registered.
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