Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodríguez lamented this Saturday the traffic accident that occurred three days ago in Zacatecas, Mexicowhere several migrants who tried to reach the United States died, including Cubans.
“Heartfelt condolences to the families and relatives of the victims. Cuba reiterates its commitment to safe migration,” Rodríguez wrote on Twitter.
The condolences of the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Island were also joined by those of Ernesto Soberón, Director General of Consular Affairs and of Cubans Resident Abroad, of the Cuban Foreign Ministry, who said feel “profound pain before the fatal victims of the traffic accident” in Zacatecas.
“We warn with regret of the risks of irregular migration that frequently takes human lives,” added the diplomat on Twitter, while on that same social network the Cuban Embassy in Mexico assured to maintain “close communication with local authorities to provide consular assistance required” after the incident.
The Cuban consulate in Monterrey and our @EmbaCuMex They have maintained close communication with the local authorities to provide the required consular assistance in the face of this unfortunate accident.
We reiterate our commitment to legal, safe and orderly migration.
— Embassy of Cuba in Mexico (@EmbaCuMex) May 28, 2022
The National Migration Institute of Mexico reported that the accident occurred on Wednesday morning when the passenger bus in which dozens of migrants were traveling overturned in Mexquitic de Carmona, on the highway from San Luis Potosí to Zacatecas.
The State Civil Protection Coordination of San Luis Potosí first notified 15 injured and six dead, and assured that “all” were immigrants from Honduras, El Salvador and Cuba, and then raised the number of victims to 19 injured and seven dead, although without detail their nationalities, refers the agency EFE.
Last March, Cuban authorities reported that three nationals lost their lives in another traffic accident in the southern state of Veracruz. In the event, at least 16 other people, also from the Island, were injured.
In recent months, the island has experienced a migratory exodus, linked in the first instance —according to many analysts— to the serious economic crisis that the country is going through, recalls EFEwhich cites among the causes of the current scenario the combination of the pandemic, the tightening of US sanctions and errors in macroeconomic management that have increased shortages of basic products and raised inflation.
The Cuban government blames its US counterpart for the current irregular migratory flow, due to Washington’s breach of bilateral commitments, for which it should grant 20,000 visas a year. Recently, the US Embassy began issuing migrant visas again, albeit on a still limited basis, after several years without doing so, and authorities from both countries met to address the issue.
United States immigration authorities revealed that in the last seven months some 115,000 cuban migrants They arrived in that country. In April alone, the figure exceeded 35,079.
EFE / OnCuba
