Nine Cubans, three of them minors, and one who claimed to be a singer, were arrested this Wednesday by elements of the Piedras Negras Municipal Link. Oscar L. Marcos, The Prince of Boleroas he identified himself to the officers, assured that the people were his family and he was trying to get them to go to the United States, according to the local media super channel 12,
“We come from Tapachula, everyone is regular,” Marcos argued to the agents, in addition to showing his papers as a US resident. But this was the second transfer that the singer made that day. In the first, the authorities only witnessed the descent of a group of people who entered the Rio Grande to reach Eagle Pass, in Texas.
The modus operandi of the Prince of Bolero is similar to that of Reiner Acosta Salazarthe Cuban-American who was driving the Alfa Romeo brand car with Texas license plates, arrested the last week of March with counterfeit visas for eight Cubans, Venezuelans, Nicaraguans and Colombians.
About Acosta Salazar there is an investigation in the Attorney General’s Office of the state of Coahuila. “We request the support of the Nicaraguan authorities, but we are at the crossroads of information,” says a source consulted by 14ymedio. “Of the detained artist we still do not have details.”
The Criminal Investigation Agency had already confirmed to this newspaper the presence of 18 groups dedicated to migrant smuggling in Coahuila. “They use houses on the city limits, stores and warehouses to put people in. There they are and they go to the US in groups of 20.”
The capture of the bolero singer, as published by K911 Noticias, revealed a migrant smuggling network that operates in Florida and from there sends Cubans legally established in the United States to Piedras Negras.
The capture of the bolero singer, as published K911 Newsrevealed a migrant smuggling network that operates in Florida and from there sends Cubans legally established in the United States to Piedras Negras “to settle the migrants who arrive at the border city in four-star hotels and thus avoid attracting attention of the police or immigration”.
Once they pass through Eagle Pass and hand themselves over to the Border Patrol, the coyotes wait for the Cubans to be released and while their legal situation is resolved, they take advantage, “they give them money to travel by bus to Florida or take them they”. The publication indicates that Cubans pay “between 1,300 and 1,500 dollars to be taken from Tabasco to Piedras Negras.”
The arrival of Cubans in the United States has increased in recent months. According to a report published last Tuesday by the newspaper miami heraldmore of 46,000 Cubans arrived by land to the US from October 2021 to the end of February 2022.
This Thursday Washington Post published that from this wave of island natives, 32,000 were taken into custody along the border with Mexico, which represents the highest numbers since the Mariel boatlift in 1980.
Unpublished data from the Customs and Border Protection Office (CBP) and to which the US media had access, indicate that the arrests of Cubans would reach 155,000 in the current fiscal year.
________________________
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 journal. Together we can continue transforming journalism in Cuba.