The ministerial police of Isla Mujeres (Quintana Roo) is investigating whether the body of a person found this Tuesday in Playa Norte is related to the eight Cuban rafters who ran aground in the marine park known as El Rito. “The body remains in the Semefo (Forensic Medical Service),” a source told 14ymedio.
The officer, who did not want to give his name, commented that the rafters managed to reach the tourist area, where they were helped by a restaurant owner who “provided them with food, some clothes and towels.” An anonymous call alerted about the migrants. “They are in Migration and in the next few days they could be returned to Cuba.”
The authorities of the state of Quintana Roo have reports on the routes used by coyotes to transport Cubans from the island. “Several landings were recorded in November. All the rafters were handed over to Migration, which carried out the process for their repatriation,” the officer mentioned.
Fishermen testimonials 14ymedio They confirmed that the coyotes have arrival points in speedboats in Cancun and the Sian Ka’an reserve and the use of rafts for landings in Isla Mujeres and Playa del Carmen. A Javier Robleswho walks tourists and knows the area, finds it “incredible that no radar detects the rafts.”
Robles, who last month witnessed the transfer of a group of rafters to Cozumel police facilitiesrecounted that “the people shouted that they wanted to stay, but they put them into the offices. Then some Immigration vans arrived, they took them up and no more was known.”
The massive arrival of Cuban rafters reflects the depth of the crisis on the island. Repression and hunger are bad companions. Cuba, an island on the run… pic.twitter.com/0Ta4J1fcUp
— Mario J. Penton (@MarioJPenton) December 27, 2022
The fisherman reiterated that “the mafia is exploiting the route through the Sian Ka’an Biosphere Reserve. There is no surveillance in that area.”
This Wednesday the journalist Mario J. Pentón shared images of the boats of Cuban rafters who have managed to reach Florida. The photos that were sent to him, he specified, are so that “Cubans on the island know that their relatives have arrived. It is all the information I have so far.”
The communicator shared the video of a rustic boat on its journey. “The massive arrival of Cuban rafters reflects the depth of the crisis on the island,” he wrote on his social media. “Repression and hunger are bad companions. Cuba, an island on the run“.
In a tweet, without offering further details, he mentioned that relatives in Cuba are asking for help to locate a group of 30 rafters who were on board this boat.
The exodus of Cubans is already alarming. Last Sunday, the Costa Rican authorities managed to bring to court a network made up of 17 coyotes, who charged Cubans $600 to take them to the United States. The trial will begin on January 9, three years after they were arrested. In the trial, 11 people will testify against the coyotes.
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