A group of between 10 and 15 people was captured on video while boarding from Playa Dayanigua, in the southern part of the municipality of Los Palacios, Pinar del Río, during an irregular departure recorded on Friday afternoon and widely shared on social media.
The material was published on Instagram by the Cuban actor and producer Tony Cortés, who labeled it as "urgent."
«Here is the video, emerging from an escape from Cuba in the south of Pinar del Rio / Los Palacios, Playa Dayanigua yesterday afternoon, the boats are coming from Cancun and it's speculated that this is an organized crime operation. All I ask is that God protects them at sea», wrote Cortés.
The images show people standing on a concrete dock extending over the water, with a motorboat in the background and several wooden boats moored to one side, along the coastline of the Gulf of Batabanó.
In the video, several Cubans throw their backpacks and then jump in themselves, attempting to reach the vessel, while receiving cheers and support from some witnesses.
In the comments, users identified the vessel as "a 28-30 foot panga" and suggested Mexico as a possible destination: "That panga is headed for Cancun."
One was more specific: “They leave them at Punta Nizuc at night”, referring to an area at the southern tip of the hotel zone in Cancún, Quintana Roo. The statement is attributed to the user and has not been independently verified.
Several internet users claimed to recognize the vessel from previous posts.
“That boat has completed a number of trips because I’ve seen it in several videos”, wrote a commenter. According to that user, the vessel would have been used on other trips, something that has not been independently verified.
Concern for the lives on board
The safety of those appearing in the images garnered most of the reactions.
“That boat looks very dangerous. May God protect them and help them arrive safely,” wrote a user.
Desperation as a cause of these journeys also emerged in the comments. "No one gets on there for fun," one person pointed out, while another summarized: "Desperation is the reason for the risks."
The publication also sparked a debate about the appropriateness of sharing such images.
"But how do they expose themselves like that?" questioned one user, while another labeled the video as "online snitching."
However, that stance received a response: "You see it as snitching; others see it as preventing perhaps a tragedy," replied an internet user.
A route that takes lives in Pinar del Río
The episode adds to a series of documented departures from western Cuba in 2026.
At the beginning of September, around twenty people set off in a speedboat from Dimas, in the municipality of Mantua, also in Pinar del Río, heading to Cancun.
In August, two young men drowned in Sandino —Leodannis Sánchez, 17, and Osmaikel, 19— as a boat with a malfunctioning engine attempted to reach Cancun.
That same month, the Mexican Navy located a vessel carrying 19 Cubans, including seven minors, which had departed from Pinar del Río and was missing for several days. According to the official information cited at the time, 16 people were rescued.
The use of pangas —fast fiberglass boats— has spread in western Cuba as one of the means used to attempt to reach Mexico, in a context of tightening U.S. immigration policy.
Until August 2026, 882 Cubans had been repatriated from the United States in 31 operations. Meanwhile, new maritime departures from Cuba have been recorded with Mexico as the destination.
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