The first images on Cuban soil of Enrique René Reyes Martínez, rescued on Monday aboard an improvised raft approximately 16 miles east of Key Biscayne, in southern Florida, and returned to the island in recent hours, were released this Thursday.
The photographs show the 38-year-old balsero from Santiago in Havana following his deportation by U.S. authorities.
The photos were published on social media by journalist Yosmany Mayeta Labrada, who also shared details about the return process based on family testimonies.
According to Mayeta, the images were taken during the early hours of this Thursday.
Contrary to speculation that placed him in Cojímar, Reyes Martínez is in another municipality of the capital, the exact location of which was not disclosed at the express request of his family to protect their privacy and safety.
"He's alive, he's in Cuba, and his family already knows where he is!" Mayeta wrote when posting the photographs.
The images show the man apparently in good health, although thin and with visible sunburn. In one of the photos, he is sitting next to two women.
According to the account by Reyes Martínez disseminated by Mayeta, the balsero never set foot on U.S. territory nor was he hospitalized.
According to that version, he was transferred from one vessel to another until reaching the so-called mother ship, from which his return to Cuba was arranged.
He also assured that he received good treatment throughout the entire process.
The journalist Javier Díaz from Univision 23 also published a photograph of the repatriated individual and noted that Reyes Martínez “thanks the Virgin of Charity of Cobre” for being alive.
Four days adrift and a return without setting foot on land
Enrique René Reyes Martínez is originally from the Los Cangrejitos neighborhood in Santiago de Cuba, although he has been living in Havana for several years.
On Thursday, October 8, he set out from Cojímar beach on a rudimentary raft made of foam blocks, wooden planks, and ropes, barely enough for one person.
Four days later, he was found adrift about 16 nautical miles east of Key Biscayne by a couple returning from the Bahamas to Miami.
"They saw a shape in the distance and decided to get a little closer, realizing it's a person on top of the raft," a relative told Univision.
The couple alerted the authorities via the maritime emergency channel VHF 16, and units from CBP Air and Marine Operations along with the Coast Guard responded to the call.
The family, caught between relief and contradictory accounts
On Wednesday night, relatives confirmed his return to Cuba for Mayeta and to the press, although none of his immediate family members in Santiago de Cuba had managed to contact him personally.
The versions about his intentions when leaving for the sea were contradictory. His aunt Yelsa Reyes Fabelo stated, "He was eager to leave Cuba, but that was not intentional."
A cousin, on the other hand, maintained that the man did have plans to emigrate and decided to keep them hidden from the family to avoid worrying them.
Reyes Martínez is the father of a young girl. His family in Santiago de Cuba is still hoping to be able to embrace him.
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