MIAMI, United States. – A total of 116 irregular migrants were returned to Cuba this Thursday on the second repatriation flight from the United States so far this year, according to reported the Ministry of the Interior (MININT).
The operation occurs 10 days after the arrival of the first United States-Cuba deportation flight in 2026in which 170 people were returned to the Island, including individuals with convictions for serious crimes.
The Cubans deported this Thursday arrived at the “José Martí” International Airport in Havana.
According to the MININT, among the 116 returned people there were 88 men and 28 women. The statement does not specify other data about the group, such as ages, provinces of origin, previous immigration status.
The MININT added that, with this flight, there are 302 people “returned to Cuba in the first months of the year.”
Following the operation on February 9, the United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement Service (ICE) Indian that, although repatriations have existed for a long time, Havana had been “reluctant to accept massive deportation flights from the United States,” but that under the current US administration these repatriations are occurring “in record numbers.”
ICE specified that on said flight it expelled “murderers, kidnappers, rapists, drug traffickers and other criminals.” Among the cases mentioned, he pointed to Yondeivis Wong Den-Hernandez, who was convicted of second-degree murder in Florida and aiding and abetting the unlawful entry of an alien into Texas.
The agency also mentioned Raul Duquenzne-Batista, whom it indicated that, in addition to convictions in Kansas, he served 20 years in prison in Cuba for robbery and burglary.
On the list released by ICE there are other names linked to crimes such as “trafficking in controlled substances”, “grand theft”, “rape”, “conspiracy to commit kidnapping”, “conspiracy to distribute cocaine”, “possession of a firearm by a convicted person”, “use of a firearm during a drug trafficking crime” and “aggravated assault with a dangerous weapon”, among other charges.
The Cuban authorities indicated that three of the returned people were transferred to the corresponding investigation bodies for alleged criminal acts committed before leaving the national territory. No additional details were offered about the nature of these processes or the current legal situation of those involved.
Until the time of publishing this note, there were no reports from the Cuban or American sides about the criminal history of the deportees.
In recent years, deportation flights between both countries experienced interruptions and resumptions depending on the political and immigration context. Operations were suspended in 2020 and resumed in April 2023, mainly for people detained at the southern border of the United States.
