MIAMI, United States. – Almost 3,000 irregular migrants have been returned to Cuba so far this year, according to reports official media of the largest of the Antilles this Thursday.
Although most of the migrants returned to the Island come from the United States, there have also been repatriations from other neighboring countries, such as Mexico and the Bahamas.
Specifically, the United States Coast Guard Service has returned a total of 2,008 nationals to Cuba, including a group of 27 people deported the day before.
This group of migrants was intercepted at sea by the US immigration authorities after three attempts to leave Cuba irregularly. In addition, a group of 10 Cubans also was deported Tuesday from the Cayman Islandswhich is added to others returned by the governments of Mexico and the Bahamas in recent months, according to the Cuban Ministry of the Interior (MININT).
The serious economic crisis worsened in Cuba as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic and the mismanagement of the Government, as well as the lack of basic freedoms and violations of human rights, have prompted an unprecedented migratory exodus, especially to the United States .
In 2022 alone, the US authorities intercepted more than 313,000 Cubans on the southern border with Mexico, which represents close to 3% of the island’s total population. The figure does not include the thousands of Cubans who left for other destinations like Mexico, Spain or South America.
In its official media, the Cuban government affirms that it maintains its commitment “to regular, safe and orderly migration” and insists on “the danger and life-threatening conditions that illegal departures from the country by sea represent.”
However, activists have pointed out the alleged collusion of the Cuban and Nicaraguan regimes to eliminate the visa that Cubans need to travel to the Central American country, which has been used by thousands of nationals to reach the southern border of the United States and has alleviated , according to analysts, the pressure within the Island.
For its part, the United States implemented a program of parole humanitarian initiative in early 2023 to grant 30,000 visas per month to migrants from Venezuela, Haiti, Cuba and Nicaragua, and stop the massive arrival of people from those countries at the southern border.
To date, some 10,000 Cubans have benefited from the program of parole humanitarian law in force since January, as recently reported by the Undersecretary of the Department of State, Brian Nichols.
