MIAMI, United States. — A group of 24 Cubans were detained at the Belgrade airport, the digital portal reported this Sunday On Cuba.
According to statements by a relative of the detained travelers, the nationals of the Caribbean island were approached by the immigration authorities of that country, despite the fact that everyone’s documentation was in order.
“Everything (the documentation) was perfect and no one was allowed to enter. They are being held in shelters (sic). They are desperate, not even an explanation,” the source explained.
Testimonies collected by this medium on social networks indicate that some of the travelers even had invitations from Serbian citizens. However, “due to the number of Cubans that came on the flight, they could not let them leave.”
It is not the first time that Cuban travelers have faced a similar situation in Serbia, one of the few countries where citizens of the Caribbean island can go without a visa.
Recently, at least 30 Cubans they were held for almost a week at Belgrade’s Nikola Tesla airport. Some of them were deported, while most were finally able to enter the European country.
On October 25, 2022, the Serbian Embassy to the European Union on board the possibility of eliminating the free visa for Cubans before the end of the year, something that did not happen.
However, the Serbian authorities did suspend this benefit for the citizens of Tunisia and Burundi.
In 2021, Turkey, Tunisia, India, Cuba and Burundi accounted for 2.5% of registered illegal border crossings on the Western Balkans Route. Since then, the number of Cuban refugees in that country has increased from 36 to 339, according to figures from the Serbian Embassy before the European Union.
Activists and opponents who have suffered repression and persecution in Cuba have fled to that country in recent years, such as rapper Denis Solís, who arrived in that nation in 2021 after serving eight months in prison, and historian Fernando Almeyda, who was coordinator of Archipelago.
