EFE/14ymedio, Havana, 23 December 2023 –The U.S. Coast Guard Service (USCG) returned 45 Cuban rafters this Friday along with 5,210 irregular migrants deported to the Island from several countries in the region so far this year, according to official media.
This group includes 39 men and six women who left illegally from the province of Matanzas, according to the Ministry of the Interior on the social network X (formerly Twitter). The report indicates that the rafters were intercepted at sea by the U.S. Coast Guard and that this is the 129th repatriation operation of migrants from different nations in 2023.
The Cuban authorities assure that they stand “firm” in their commitment to a “regular, safe and orderly” migration, while warning of the danger and life-threatening conditions posed by illegal departures from the country by sea. Cuba and the U.S. have a bilateral agreement that all migrants arriving by sea will be returned to the Island.
Flights were added at the end of 2022, after Cuba and the U.S. agreed to resume deportation flights for “inadmissible” people detained at the border with Mexico.
During the last fiscal year, which began on October 1, 2022, more than 6,800 Cubans have been intercepted by the USCG on trips to the coast of Florida, according to official data.
During the last fiscal year, which began on October 1, 2022, more than 6,800 Cubans have been intercepted by the USCG on trips to the coast of Florida
This year, Cuba also received migrants deported from the Bahamas, Belize, the Cayman Islands, the Dominican Republic and Mexico.
Cuba is experiencing an unprecedented migratory wave both for the volume of migrants and for its temporary extension due to the serious economic crisis it suffers with
