The plane picked up speed on the runway for takeoff, while safety instructions were heard on the loudspeaker. Aeroméxico flight AM451 headed for Havana this Saturday with an almost empty cabin. Only a dozen people traveled to the Island. The rest of the travelers never boarded the ship, although they had to pay for the return ticket to the country.
Since the Mexican airline resumed its flights to Cuba and inaugurated a route from Havana to Managua, passing through Mexico City, most passengers do not return to the island despite having a return ticket, and planes fly to Havana with a few seats occupied.
“Look if there are few of us who have even given us a drink three times, something I had never seen on an airplane,” joked a mother, with her teenage daughter who was traveling on the Boeing 737 on November 26. “We have been able to choose the seat where we sit and there are people who have been sleeping all along because they have no one next to them,” she explained to 14ymedio.
A woman explained that the trip from the Cuban capital to the popularly called “route of the volcanoes” cost her 2,800 dollars for each one.
Among those traveling to the island was a couple who saw their route to Managua frustrated. “When we arrived in Mexico, they realized that our passports expire in December and Nicaragua requires that they be valid for at least six months to let us in,” the young woman told this newspaper. “We are going back to get a new document as quickly as possible and get out again.”
Since November 2021, the Nicaraguan authorities eliminated the visa requirement for Cubans, a relaxation that has unleashed an avalanche of travelers from the island who use the Central American country as the gateway to the United States. A wide network of accommodation, drivers and coyotes are part of a route that is dotted with robberies, extortion and kidnappings.
The woman explained that the journey from the Cuban capital to the popularly called “route of the volcanoes” cost her $2,800 each. “In Managua, a contact is waiting for us who has already helped my brother to continue from there to the southern border with the United States,” a path followed by most of those who board the Aeroméxico flight to Nicaragua.
“They have told us that we have to pay again for the journey from Havana, although we have managed to change the date of the section from Mexico City to Managua. The problem is that the passports they are taking up to a month and we no longer have a place to live in Havana, we sold everything before leaving,” the migrant clarifies. “We are going to stay with some relatives until we can leave again.”
Among the few passengers there was also a Dutchman, a Cuban living in Chile who came to visit his family and a couple of Mexicans interested in spending a few days on the beaches of eastern Havana. “When we went to check, the employee told us that the plane was probably going to go with very few passengers, because he says that since flights to the island resumed, it is like that.”
Last week, this newspaper revealed that Cuban travelers who board these Aeroméxico flights, bound for Managua and with a stopover in Mexico City, have their passports withdrawn
Last week, this diary revealed that Cuban travelers who board these Aeroméxico flights, bound for Managua and stopover in Mexico City, have their passports withdrawn before boarding the plane to prevent them from requesting asylum or refuge in Mexican territory. As an additional measure, they are prevented from leaving the aircraft during the time it remains at the Benito Juárez Airport.
After checking in Havana and, once in the boarding area, the airline staff collects the passengers’ identity documents and delivers a card with a number so that the passenger can retrieve the passport after arriving at the final destination.
On that occasion, a flight attendant confirmed the measure to this newspaper. “It is what we have planned for this type of travel and we cannot do otherwise,” although he declined to clarify whether the instruction to withdraw the travel document came from the Mexican, Nicaraguan or Cuban authorities.
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