MIAMI, United States. – Six Cubans arrived in Grand Cayman this Monday after having been rescued at sea by a ship that passed through the area and left them on the island, reported the immigration authorities of the Caribbean country.
The six rafters remained in the custody of Customs and Border Control (CBC) and are “being processed” in accordance with local legislation and the territory’s international obligations, according to an official statement from the Caymanian Government.
Cayman News Service (CNS) reported that, while the CBC “prepares” for an eventual uptick in the arrival of Cuban rafters to the country, given the serious crisis in the largest of the Antilles, the group of six Cubans joins another that had already been retained by the institution.
Three days before, on Friday, February 13, the CBC repatriated nine migrants to Havana on a regular Cayman Airways flight, according to the Government itself. With this operation, the total number of repatriates to Cuba since the beginning of 2026 rose to 13, and the Executive indicated that, after these departures, 23 irregular migrants remained in the custody of the CBC.
In the official statement, the director of the CBC, Bruce D. Smith, thanked the participating agencies and anticipated that repatriation flights will continue to be organized as the processing of the cases continues.
Nevertheless, CNS He stressed that the continuity of the accelerated repatriation program could be conditioned by the fuel crisis in Cuba. The media explained that it consulted the CBC about whether the rapid return scheme would be maintained after Cayman Airways warned that it could suspend flights to Havana due to lack of fuel, but, according to CNS, CBC authorities declined to respond.
Last January it emerged that the authorities of the Cayman Islands were preparing contingency plans for the possibility of an increase in irregular migration from Cuba, particularly due to the worsening of the crisis on the Island after the capture of the Venezuelan dictator. Nicolas Maduro.
Governor Jane Owen stated that, after a meeting of the National Security Council on the probability that “large numbers” of Cubans arrive illegally in the territory, the interagency Committee on Mass Migration was scheduled to meet to discuss preparations, as stated in the program Forefront from Compass TV on January 15.
“We need to make sure that we are prepared in case any of these actions result in an increase in irregular migration from Cuba,” Owen said in that television program.
The Police Commissioner, Kurt Walton, participated in the same program and assured that the Royal Cayman Islands Police Service, the Coast Guard and Customs and Border Control were working together on the planning. “We work closely with our partner [Aduanas y Control Fronterizo] on these matters, but we also work with all our other regional partners on sharing intelligence on (…) what the latest information suggests, and whether there is going to be some type of mass migration,” he said.
Walton added that the priority was to anticipate. “The best thing for us is to really plan, prepare in advance, in case that happens, to have a contingency plan ready,” he said.
The Cayman Islands have been a transit point for Cuban migrants for years, although many boats cross Caymanian waters heading to other destinations. Those who disembark in the Caribbean country are usually detained before their repatriation. A legislative reform in 2023 accelerated the processing of asylum applications, which would allow Cuban citizens to be returned more quickly than in the past, when they could benefit from a lengthy appeals process.
