MIAMI, United States.- The number of Cubans who have fled the island in the last eight months exceeded by thousands the exodus from Mariel in 1980, according to government figures cited by The New Herald.
Since October 2021, more than 140,000 Cubans have been detained at the borders of the United States, a figure that exceeds the 125,000 who left through the port of Mariel between April and October 1980.
The economic problems and the lack of freedoms in both crises have been triggers for Cubans, by the thousands, to jump into the sea or flee by land to the US borders. First under the mandate of the late dictator Fidel Castro, now with Miguel Díaz-Canel ruling.
According to the Herald, which cites data from the United States Customs and Border Protection Office, in just two years, which coincided with the Covid-19 pandemic and a severe economic crisis on the island, the number of Cubans who left the country went from 14,015 in 2020 to 140,602 in May this year.
Most migrants arrive in the United States through the border with Mexico, however, the number of those who do so by sea has also skyrocketed.
Since October 2021, according to the Coast Guard, a total of 2,464 Cubans have been intercepted trying to reach US shores.
Cubans found at sea are generally sent back to the island under a migration agreement with the communist government, agreed upon after the so-called rafter crisis in 1994. However, many of those who arrive by land are has allowed them to stay and apply for asylum.
The numbers of Cubans arriving in the United States, which are still high, decreased from April to May by almost 27%. In April arrived in the country 35 080 Cubans, and in May 25,691 did so.
The decrease could be related, the Herald article says, to the new requirements that several Latin American countries on the land route to the US border have imposed on Cubans trying to obtain a visa.
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