MIAMI, United States. — The Cuban Ministry of the Interior (MININT) confirmed that the number of Cuban irregular migrants repatriated from different countries so far this year amounts to 2,431.
That organization highlighted that there have been 37 deportation operations and that most of the returnees tried to reach the United States illegally.
Last Tuesday the United States Coast Guard (USCG) deported 41 Cuban rafters recently detained in operations carried out in the Florida Keys. Days before, the federal entity had returned to other 38 migrants after two rescue operations off the coast of Florida.
Both groups were repatriated by the crew of the cutter Charles David Jr., one of the most used vessels for this type of operation.
For its part, the MININT gave an account last Monday of a group of irregular migrants —made up of 52 men, 11 women and a minor— who were intercepted by the US Coast Guard at sea and returned to Cuba through the port of Orozco. , in the province of Artemisa.
Among the migrants reported by MININT, two were detained “for being alleged perpetrators of serious criminal acts, which were investigated prior to their departure.”
Most of the 64 deported rafters were residents of the provinces of Havana, Matanzas and Granma, and had left the country in five illegal exits.
From October 1, 2022 —the beginning of fiscal year 2023 in the United States marks the beginning of the current fiscal year— until the end of the month of February, the crews of the US Coast Guard had intercepted more than 5,740 Cubans, 442 less than in the entire previous fiscal year.
