Four days after the tragedy, the Cuban authorities “deeply” regretted the deaths produced in Bahía Honda and they announced an investigation to clarify the events of October 28, when the Border Guard Troops rammed a speedboat in which 28 rafters were traveling and at least seven of them died. The agents, however, have the defense a priori of his superiors, who strove this Tuesday to make clear the number of migrants rescued by the body.
“The border guards have saved 2,085 people in 168 operations. Of the total, 121 people correspond to seven acts of human trafficking,” Lieutenant Colonel Imandra Oceguera Cull, head of department of the Directorate of Border Guard Troops of the Ministry of the Interior, said yesterday. that intervened in the Round Table of Cuban Television that addressed migrations, a phenomenon that is bleeding the Island and that has grown exponentially since a year ago Nicaragua decreed the exemption of visas for Cubans.
The officer also indicated that the agents cannot carry out forceful measures or use firearms or carry out any action that implies risk when rafters are involved.
The choice of topic is not accidental after the last friday eventin which relatives of the victims and survivors have denounced the attack of the agents against the boat, coming to describe what happened as murder. Oceguera argued that the objective of the border guards is always the preservation of human life. “There are hundreds of people who have been rescued in danger to their lives at sea,” he reiterated.
The officer also indicated that the agents cannot carry out forceful measures or use firearms or carry out any action that implies risk when rafters are involved. However, she insisted, a “thorough investigation” is being carried out that will determine responsibilities.
Until that moment, the authorities have already pointed out an indirect and habitual culprit: the United States. In addition, they pointed out that “the same participants in these events recognized that they were abandoned to their fate by human traffickers,” whom official sources accused of acting irresponsibly, aggressively, and negligently. “When there are cases of human trafficking with boats coming from abroad, their final destination is the United States,” they stressed.
“These criminal elements, who reside precisely in that country, act for profit and without real interest in human life. They act at night, in inhospitable places, and travel at high speeds. Another element that characterizes them is that they overload the speedboats, which demonstrates the lack of knowledge of navigation regulations,” said Oceguera, who added that these routes are occasionally used to introduce weapons or drugs, a fact that he described as a “serious threat” to national security.
To this is added, the officer stressed, that the materials of the boats are not adequate, the rafters do not know the most basic rules of navigation, they lack rescue methods and they do not have methods for diagnosing the state of the sea, the official stressed. .
Despite everything, the lieutenant colonel acknowledged that there is a fluid exchange with their US counterparts when it comes to supervising border waters. “It is a direct communication, case by case and in real time. When an event of this type is detected, it is immediately informed of the number of people on board, the characteristics of the environment, their position”.
Also taking part in the program were Mario Méndez Mayedo, head of the Department of Identification, Immigration and Aliens of the Ministry of the Interior; and Laura Pujol Torres, Deputy Director General of Consular Affairs and Cubans Resident Abroad. The latter specified that emigrating should not be a politicized or negative phenomenon, but it must be done under appropriate conditions.
Pujol insisted on the responsibility of the US Government in the increase in the flow of travelers, for having paralyzed the granting of visas between 2017 and until this year (when it finally delivered the amount agreed in the agreements) and for maintaining a policy of sanctions that suffocates the country’s economy. He did not make the slightest gesture of self-criticism about the inability of the national authorities to mitigate any possible effect of the embargo and insisted that the Cuban Adjustment Law “irresponsibly encourages this type of event and hinders any action that, on the other hand, could have the authorities to mitigate these issues of irregular migration”.
“Positive steps have been identified within the Joe Biden Administration to reverse this process and Cuba will always be willing to talk and cooperate”
As he indicated, several Latin American countries, including Cuba, have recently entered into talks with the US and things are on the right track. “Positive steps have been identified within the Joe Biden Administration to reverse this process and Cuba will always be willing to talk and cooperate,” she stated.
Colonel Mario Méndez Mayedo detailed the cost of a trip through a coyote, which according to his calculations has gone from 2,000 to 3,000 dollars some time ago to 15,000 dollars and added that these traffickers profit by putting the lives of others at stake and are often disengaged when things go wrong. In addition, along the way they find corrupt agents who demand more money and end up blackmailing the relatives. He also cited the minors involved in these outings, the wounded and dead who remain on the road and the inhuman conditions of these trips that, despite everything, compensate hundreds of thousands of people each year.
Finally, the military officer accused the United States of politically manipulating the Cubans, whom he welcomes as asylum seekers for alleging “credible fear” when many return to the island after a few months “without any problem, and the authorities know that.” North Americans”. And he added: “It makes no sense for a person leaving their country legally to have ‘credible fear’ as a basis for entering the United States.”
________________________
Collaborate with our work:
The team of 14ymedio is committed to doing serious journalism that reflects the reality of deep Cuba. Thank you for joining us on this long road. We invite you to continue supporting us, but this time becoming a member of our newspaper. Together we can continue transforming journalism in Cuba.
