Enrique René Reyes Martínez, the 38-year-old Cuban who was rescued on Monday about 16 nautical miles east of Key Biscayne, was repatriated to Cuba this Wednesday, according to journalist Javier Díaz's confirmation via his social media, citing the man's own family.
Díaz clarified that Reyes Martínez "was always attended to on a Coast Guard vessel and was not taken to a hospital," which means that at no point did he set foot on U.S. soil after being rescued while adrift on a makeshift raft made of polystyrene blocks, wooden planks, and ropes.
A native of Santiago de Cuba and residing in Havana, Reyes Martínez had left from Cojímar beach on Thursday, October 8, and had been missing at sea for four days when a couple returning from the Bahamas to Miami spotted him adrift and alerted the authorities via emergency maritime channel VHF 16.
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The rescue involved units from CBP Air and Marine Operations and the Coast Guard, which transported the man to the Coast Guard cutter USCGC Melvin Bell for immigration processing.
The relatives of Reyes Martínez provided contradictory accounts regarding the circumstances of the trip when interviewed by Univision.
His aunt, Yelsa Reyes Fabelo, stated: "He was eager to leave Cuba, but that was not intentional," and attributed the journey to an accident during a fishing trip worsened by bad weather.
However, a cousin insisted that the trip was indeed deliberate and that Reyes Martínez hid his plans from the family to avoid worrying them.
The man is the father of a young girl who remains in Cuba.
Immigration lawyer José Guerrero had warned Univision, before the news of the deportation broke, that Reyes Martínez would undergo an expedited removal process: "He will be transferred to a detention center and placed in an expedited deportation process, because he is a foreigner arriving in the United States, in this case by sea."
Guerrero recalled that the "wet feet, dry feet" policy was eliminated in January 2017, although he clarified that not all migrants intercepted under these circumstances end up being deported.
The case arises during a week of intense migratory activity in the Florida Strait: the Coast Guard repatriated six Cubans on Tuesday following two separate operations, and on October 8, the cutter USCGC Raymond Evans rescued three Cuban men southwest of Cay Sal in the Bahamas, one of whom required specialized medical evacuation.
The gradual closing of legal emigration routes partially explains the increase in risky journeys: the Cuban Family Reunification Program ceased accepting new applications in December 2025, and on January 1, 2026, a presidential proclamation came into effect suspending the issuance of immigrant visas for Cubans outside the United States.
Only eleven days before the rescue, the U.S. Embassy in Havana published a message of discouragement with the slogan "Don't risk your life, it's not worth it," which generated an avalanche of critical responses from Cubans who pointed out the impossibility of emigrating through legal channels.
Between 2021 and 2026, over 1.79 million Cubans have left the island in the largest exodus in its history.
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