MIAMI, United States. – This Wednesday, the United States Border Patrol received 80 Cuban rafters who made landfall in the Marquesas Keys, uninhabited islands west of Key West, reported on Twitter Officer Walter N. Slosar of the Coast Guard.
The 80 migrants crossed the Strait of Florida in four rustic boats, the same source said.
Every week, dozens of Cubans approach the coast of Florida, where they are generally intercepted by Coast Guard agents and then deported to the Island. However, many of them perish at sea before reaching land.
Last Monday it emerged that a family of 20 Cubans had reached the shores of the United States after setting sail from Cojímar, in Havana, in a speedboat and crossing the Straits of Florida in 10 and a half hours.
“We all arrived safely in the United States. We came in a speedboat with 20 relatives from Cuba, Cojímar, with a lot of work and sacrifices… Dream fulfilled”, wrote on facebook one of the members of the group, the user Sorjes Martín.
“We are already at the family house. Many of those who came with us families must be concerned. (…) We are already on US soil… and we all left Immigration today for the families’ homes,” added the Cuban.
Although most of the Cuban rafters that arrive on the shores of the United States are returned to the island by the Coast Guard, the 20 members of this group would have been admitted to the country due to the “serious political problems” they faced in Cuba, according to statements by Sorjes Martín to the independent medium CyberCuba.
The same weekend, the crews of the William Flores and Paul Clark Coast Guardsmen, of the United States Coast Guard, repatriated 80 Cubans after several rescue operations off the coast of Florida, reported in a statement the US body.
“Illegal migration in rustic and improvised boats without safety equipment, such as a life jacket, is dangerous,” has warned Petty Officer 1st Class Nicole J. Groll, Coast Guard 7th District. “Risking their lives during these adventures causes their loved ones unnecessary anxiety about whether they are safe or lost at sea,” she added.
Recently, the United States embassy in Havana warned Cuban rafters that it would strengthen surveillance in the Straits of Florida, with a view to dealing with the increase in irregular maritime migration.
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