This Friday, the Cuban authorities received six irregular migrants intercepted at sea by the United States Coast Guard, the Ministry of the Interior (Minint) reported. With this return, the number of Cubans deported from different countries in the region so far this year rises to 1,669.
The return was carried out by sea and is in addition to the deportation flight that arrived on the island on Thursday with 128 Cuban citizens on board, according to the Minint through the state press.
According to information from the EFE agency, the Cuban Government reiterated its “commitment to regular, safe and orderly migration,” while once again warning about the risks to life that illegal departures from the country imply, especially by sea.
Cuba and the United States maintain a bilateral agreement that establishes the return to the island of all Cuban migrants who arrive by sea to US territory. Likewise, deportation flights—suspended since 2020—were resumed at the end of April 2023, mainly for migrants considered “inadmissible” after being stranded on the border with Mexico.
According to data from the US Customs and Border Protection (CBP), during fiscal year 2024, 217,615 Cubans arrived in that country, bringing the total number of Cuban migrants arriving in the last four years to more than 860,000.
For more than five years, Cuba has been going through a deep economic and social crisis that has caused an unprecedented migratory exodus, marked by irregular departures by land and sea, and a sustained increase in returns from countries in the region.
EFE/OnCuba
