A Royal Caribbean cruise ship, the Radiance of the Seas, stopped its march off the coast of Cuba to rescue six Cuban rafters whose small boat was in danger.
The crew, obliged by international maritime law, remained in the area on Sunday until the rescue was completed and coordinated with the authorities of the Cayman Islands, he notes. Cayman News Service.
The six adult men were disembarked and handed over to the Directorate of Immigration and Foreigners (CBC), which is holding them in custody while their situation is processed “in accordance with the law and international obligations of the Cayman Islands.”
The CBC confirmed that the migrants are adults and that the operation had support from collaborating agencies.
The newspaper itself points out that nine of the 26 migrants who were in CBC custody were repatriated to Havana last Friday, aboard an unchartered Cayman Airways flight, which, according to authorities, brings to 13 the total number of migrants repatriated to the island since the beginning of the year.
This cruise ship event occurs a few days after seven others were rescued in the waters of the Mexican Caribbean after shipwrecking on an artisanal boat near Banco Chinchorro, south of the state of Quintana Roo, reports News.
All were transferred to dry land and treated by naval medical personnel, with no reports of serious injuries, after first being helped by local fishermen, who managed to get them to safety and transfer them to personnel stationed in the protected natural area.
Subsequently, the media adds, a Navy interceptor patrol carried out the transfer to the fishing pier of Mahahual.
Crisis, rafters and the route of the volcanoes
These events are part of a rise in irregular departures from Cuba in recent months. According to data from the United States Coast Guard (USCG), from October 2024 to mid-February 2026, there have been dozens of interdictions in the Caribbean, with more than 120 Cubans repatriated in different operations.
Months ago, on May 20, 2025, five other Cubans were returned after being rescued by civilian navigators in the Yucatán Passage.
The first repatriation of the fiscal year occurred on January 9, 2025, with 20 people (nine men, seven women and four children) delivered in Havana.
Cuba has been going through a deep economic and social crisis for more than five years, which has caused an unprecedented migratory exodus, marked by irregular departures by land and sea, and a sustained increase in returns from countries in the region.
Nicaragua suspends the free visa for Cubans: the migratory route of “the volcanoes” is closed
These recent departures occur in the midst of a worsening of this crisis as a consequence of the oil siege directed from Washington, which has caused true chaos in the country so far this year with fuel rationing, reduction of public services, in order to prioritize essential activities in sectors such as health, water service and defense.
Given this situation, departure from Cuba by boat could begin to increase, when barely a week has passed since the government of Nicaragua suspended visa-free travel for Cuban citizens, ending a decision in force since November 2021 that allowed the existence of the main immigration corridor for hundreds of thousands of Cubans who tried to reach the United States in recent years.
In Cuba, this migratory alternative would be known as “the route of the volcanoes”, an irony to speak of the Havana-Managua air route, with no return. The expression arose when a Nicaraguan official, faced with the massive arrival of Cubans from the island, stated that they were traveling as “tourists” to visit the country’s volcanoes, an excuse that the Cuban choteo resigned.
Nicaragua became the key entry point for the so-called “Central American route,” used by Cubans seeking to later reach the southern border of the United States. Between 2021 and 2024, more than 400,000 Cubans used this route, crossing Honduras, Guatemala and Mexico to reach the southern border of the United States.
