The governments of Mexico and the United States returned to Cuba this Friday a group of 98 irregular migrantsbringing the number of returnees to 4,013 so far this year, including those deported from the Bahamas and the Cayman Islands.
24 Cubans have returned from Mexico and there are already 1,363 received so far, according to Cuban immigration authorities quoted by state agency Latin Press (PL).
Meanwhile, 74 Cubans who were intercepted at sea were returned to the island by the United States Coast Guard. With this, the number rises to a total of 2,388 so far this year.
Data from the United States Department of Customs and Border Protection show that only in the first eight months of the current fiscal year (as of October 2021) 140,602 migrants from the Island have arrived in that territory.
The figure exceeds the largest exodus of Cubans to date, in 1980, when around 125,000 people left through the port of Mariel in just seven months.
The number of Cuban rafters intercepted by the United States Coast Guard grows
The Cuban government points to the Cuban Adjustment Act as a reason for citizens of their country to try to reach the United States irregularly by land or sea. This legislation allows access to permanent residence in the northern nation to Cubans who remain at least one year in its territory.
It also accuses the United States government of promoting migratory flows and of failing to comply with bilateral agreements on this matter.
Experts, for their part, link the increase in the departure of Cubans in the first place with the serious economic crisis that the Island is currently going through.
