A group of 127 Cubans was returned this Friday from the United States on a flight that arrived at the José Martí International Airport in Havana, and two of them were taken to an investigative body due to their alleged involvement in criminal activities committed before leaving the country.
The Ministry of the Interior (MININT) reported this Friday that the flight transported 113 men and 14 women, whom the Cuban authorities referred to as "irregular migrants returned by the United States".
"Two of those individuals were transferred to the investigative body for being suspected perpetrators of criminal acts before leaving the country," stated the MININT.
The institution did not disclose the identity of those two individuals nor provide any details regarding the criminal acts they are alleged to have committed.
According to official figures, with this operation, the number of individuals returned to Cuba rises to 882 during the first eight months of 2026, through 31 operations from various countries in the region.
MININT indicated that the return occurred "in compliance with bilateral migration agreements."
Cuban authorities also reiterated their position in favor of "regular, safe, and orderly" migration and again warned about the risks posed by illegal departures from the country.
For the number of passengers, this Friday's flight is the second largest of the year among those documented from the United States to Cuba in 2026, only behind the 170 returned on February 9.
The new operation to return to Cuba takes place just one day after the United States sent the first flight of deportees to Liberia under an agreement that allows the African country to accept up to 1,200 migrants from third countries over the next 12 months.
Among the 20 people transferred to Monrovia were Cuban citizens, along with Venezuelans and Colombians, as confirmed by the Liberian Minister of Information, Jerolinmek Piah, to Reuters.
The flight this Friday is part of the 31 returns recorded by Cuban authorities in the first eight months of 2026. However, this figure includes returns from various countries in the region and does not correspond exclusively to flights from the United States.
In the specific case of direct collective flights from U.S. territory, January passed without any air deportations to Cuba. The first of the year arrived on February 9 with 170 Cubans: 153 men and 17 women.
That remains the largest deportation flight from the United States in 2026 and also the one that transported the highest number of men. Three of the returnees were sent to investigative bodies due to their alleged involvement in criminal activities committed prior to leaving Cuba.
That first flight also had a particularity. Days later, it emerged that Havana had accepted among the deportees individuals convicted in the United States for serious crimes, including cases related to murder, rape, kidnapping, and drug trafficking, according to information from U.S. authorities.
Only ten days later, on February 19, a second flight returned 116 people to Cuba: 88 men and 28 women. This number of women is the highest recorded so far in these flights during 2026, although it was matched the following month.
On March 19, the United States deported another 117 Cubans: 89 men and 28 women. Three were taken to investigative agencies due to their alleged involvement in criminal activities prior to their departure from the island.
One of the members of that group later became involved in an exceptional case.
Alejandro Ramírez Díaz returned to the United States after spending one month and 11 days in Cuba, after his defense legally challenged the deportation, asserting that it had been carried out without a final order of expulsion. Upon his return, he was once again taken into custody by ICE.
The following flight arrived on April 16, when 91 Cubans were sent to Havana: 76 men and 15 women.
Two of them were transferred to investigative bodies for being identified as alleged perpetrators of criminal acts committed prior to leaving Cuba.
On May 21, the smallest group of documented flights arrived this year. The United States then deported 76 Cubans: 66 men and 10 women. It was also the flight with the lowest number of women in this sequence.
A month later, on June 25, another plane from the United States landed in Havana with 96 deportees: 78 men and 18 women.
In the month of July, no direct collective deportation flights from the United States to Cuba were registered.
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