MIAMI, United States. – After 43 attempts to reach the shores of the United States and 24 days adrift on the high seas, the Cuban rafter Andy de la Torre finally achieved his goal, confessed the migrant himself to the Univisión channel.
“I made 43 attempts [para llegar a Estados Unidos] and if it hadn’t been 43 it would have been 44, 45, 46…”, De la Torre said. “We had been 15 days without taking anything. Nothing else drinking rainwater and salt water. 15 days that were… I do not wish that on anyone, ”he added during the interview with Univisión.
“We thought we were going to die. Never in the 43 trips I’ve taken have I been as afraid of dying as I was on this trip,” she said.
According to De la Torre, at the time of the rescue he and his two companions began to cry.
“The boys started crying and I started crying. I’m not much of a cryer and that, but it was something incredible when I saw the diver hanging from the harness that came down and swam to where we were, “she said.
In this way, the three rafters arrived in the United States on July 16.
Although the majority of Cuban migrants intercepted by the Coast Guard are repatriated to the Island, De la Torre was allowed to remain on US territory while processing his asylum application due to the health conditions in which he arrived, Univisión reported.
Every week, dozens of Cuban rafters They approach the coast of Florida, where they are generally intercepted by United States Coast Guard agents and then deported to the Island.
“The possibility of being apprehended by Coast Guard crews while illegally migrating through the Straits of Florida is extremely high,” said Lieutenant Commander Mark Cobb of the 7th Coast Guard District. “No one should risk their lives on unsafe rustic boats in unpredictable seas,” he added.
Since October 1, 2021, the beginning of the current fiscal year, US Coast Guard crews have intercepted 3,994 Cubans, a figure that exceeds the number of migrants from the island intercepted each fiscal year from 2017 to 2021.
According to the agency, the statistics have behaved as follows: 5,396 Cubans intercepted in fiscal year 2016; 1,468 in 2017; 259 in 2018; 313 in 2019; 49 in 2020 and 838 in 2021.
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