The United States Border Patrol has taken into custody 60 Cubans who were detained in the Florida Keys. According to reported on their social networks The chief officer of the Miami sector, Walter Slosar, said on Monday “33 rafters were arrested after making landfall,” in addition to the 27 arrested last weekend in Key West.
Slosar noted that the Border Patrol and other federal agencies are responding to “multiple rafter landings.” Last Friday was recorded the arrival of 42 Cubansincluding 13 women, 19 men and 10 children, aboard a fishing boat and a raft.
Between Saturday and Wednesday of last week another 96 rafters arrived in Florida. According to the Center for Democracy and Development in the Americas, the exodus of Cubans by sea and by land already exceeds the figures recorded during the Mariel crisis of 1980 and the Balseros of 1994. In the last ten months, the authorities Americans have intercepted nearly 178,000 Cubans.
As soon as they arrive, other rafters are detained and returned to the Island. This Saturday the Coast Guard repatriated on board the ship Raymond Evans to 90 Cubans. Official data indicates that from October 1, 2021 the crews 4,614 migrants have been intercepted. “These trips are not only illegal, but also incredibly dangerous,” said Lt. Paul Puddington.
In one of these rustic boats he left Barbara Island along with 14 other Cubans. The next day the raft broke. “We were in the middle of the sea, floating at night, no one saw us, the ships passing very far away, no one saw us, desperate, hungry, and thirsty,” counted to Telemundo.
Barbara, she said, lost consciousness and did not drown thanks to her sister holding her by the hair, until they were rescued along with six other people alive; there are still five missing. This Cuban woman was taken by helicopter to the HCA Florida Kendall hospital, where she underwent surgery and spent two weeks in a coma.
In an attempt to try to inhibit the migratory flow, Erik Villa Rodríguez, non-commissioned officer of the US Coast Guard, has warned that “rafters who are intercepted will be repatriated to their country of origin.”
This flow of rafters responds to the worsening of the humanitarian and economic crisis that the island is experiencing, with a resurgence of repression and economic deterioration, which includes a rise in the cost of living, the devaluation of the Cuban peso and an increase in uncertainty about the future.
Last Saturday, the Cuban police seized a raft in Colón, Matanzas, which was allegedly built to try to leave the country. According to a video shared on your social networks by the journalist Mario J. Pentón, the boat, with the name of Freedomwas dragged by a truck guarded by the police.
On the other hand, the state radio station Radio Sagua announced that since Sunday, border guards, fishing boats and a helicopter from the Ministry of the Armed Forces have been searching for a group of six missing Cuban rafters near the coastal area of Sagua la Grande, in Clear Villa.
According to data published in the Facebook account Followers of the Cuban Legionnaire, related to State Security, these rafters were encouraged by the United States and left Cuba at dawn on Sunday. “The governor of the municipality and other leaders meet with relatives of the disappeared, awaiting news,” the same message reported.
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