MIAMI, United States. – Some 34 Cuban migrants made landfall in Cayman Brac last Monday, according to reported the Cayman Islands Customs and Border Control (CBC).
The 34 rafters (six women and 28 men) made the crossing from Cuba in a single boat. According to the medium CaymanNewsServiceThis is the third landing of Cubans in less than a week and the sixth so far in October.
That medium estimates that more than 250 Cubans are currently in the Cayman Islands.
Migrants remain detained in Grand Cayman, either in the Immigrant Detention Center, in temporary accommodation created in civic centers or in the community, especially those awaiting asylum applications, said the aforementioned media.
“It does not appear that there have been repatriations to Havana since before the pandemic, when both the Cayman Islands and Cuba closed their borders. Cuba reopened its borders in May, but no formal deportations have been carried out. CaymanNewsService.
At the end of April this year, The CBC activated a contingency plan given the massive arrival of migrants -including many Cubans- to the coasts of Cayman Brac.
“There is no benefit in intercepting migrants by sea before they arrive on our shores because they will still have to be processed in the same way in accordance with the International Convention for the Treatment of Refugees,” said the director of CBC, Charles Clifford.
In mid-April 2017, the governments of the Cayman Islands and Cuba modified and signed a memorandum of understanding that defines the terms within which Cuban migrants who land in that territory would be repatriated.
“A massive influx of migrants or refugees will inevitably present national security and budgetary challenges,” Clifford said.
The Cayman Islands Mass Migration Contingency Plan can be activated once the CBC Detention Center reaches 80% capacity.
“While the number of migrants does not exceed the Center’s capacity, it was important not to wait until the situation became unmanageable to inform and prepare the Committee on Mass Migration and, by extension, the agencies that make up the Committee,” added Clifford. .
Currently, Cuba is experiencing a migratory exodus that threatens to surpass the Mariel crisis. Weekly, dozens of Cuban rafters they take to the sea in an attempt to reach the Florida coast. Most of them are intercepted by US authorities and returned to the Island.
However, others end up in territories far from the United States, not counting those who disappear and even die on the high seas.
Receive information from CubaNet on your cell phone through WhatsApp. Send us a message with the word “CUBA” on the phone +525545038831, You can also subscribe to our electronic newsletter by giving click here.
