MIAMI, United States. – Some 22 Cuban rafters arrived on the coast of Honduras this Wednesday, after several days at sea, reported on Facebook the Honduran Naval Force.
“The Honduran Naval Force, through the Naval Squad, carried out the maritime transfer of 22 people of Cuban nationality from the Isla del Cisne to the Castilla Naval Complex, where they were given care in accordance with the International Agreement for Security of Human Life (SOLAS)”, the Honduran organization specified in its publication.
Likewise, the Naval Force of that Central American country indicated that after their transfer, the 22 migrants “were handed over in good health conditions to the Migration delegate of the City of Trujillo.”
Cuba is experiencing an unprecedented migratory crisis, where not only nationals who travel to Nicaragua and undertake the journey to the southern border of the United States through Mexico are counted, but also the rafters intercepted at sea by the authorities of various countries in the Caribbean region.
In November 2022, the Honduran National Police detained 45 Cuban migrants and 11 alleged human traffickers who were transporting them in private cars, according to a statement of the Honduran entity.
According to that source, the arrest of the migrants and those suspected of human trafficking occurred in the village of Monte Verde, in the municipality of Santa Cruz de Yojoa, and was carried out by the Transnational Criminal Investigation Unit (UTIC) of the Police Investigations Directorate. (IPR) of that country.
The Cubans were transported in private vehicles belonging to the 11 alleged Honduran traffickers or “coyotes”, the National Police specified.
The nationals of the Island were placed under the protection of the National Institute of Migration (INM), whose authorities would coordinate their return to the Island or authorize them a safe-conduct to continue their trip.
Honduras has become a transit point for immigrants, especially Cubans and Venezuelans, who cross Central American countries to try to reach the United States, according to the news agency EFE.
The migratory crisis that Cuba is currently experiencing is the largest to date since 1959. The records of the number of Cubans who entered the United States by water or sea last year pulverize any other previous record.
At the beginning of this year, some 5,000 migrants from various countries, including an unspecified number of Cubans, protested the southern border of Mexico, where they entered by force to go to the COMAR offices, according to international media reported.
In January of this year it also emerged that some 5,961 Cuban migrants crossed the Darién jungle -the natural border between Panama and Colombia- in 2022, according to data published by the Panamanian government.
Also recently transcended that 4,241 Cuban migrants had requested refuge in Brazil, a record number. After Venezuelans, Cubans were the second nationality that made the most refugee requests, according to data from the Observatory of International Migration of Brazil (OBMigra).
