The US Coast Guard reported this Thursday that from October 2021 to date 5,689 rafters have been intercepted and detained and repatriated this Friday to the Island on the ship Paul Clark’s to another 28 people, in addition to the 99 returned on Thursday.
It is an authentic “migratory catastrophe”, as the Cuban virologist based in Brazil, Amílcar Pérez-Riverol, described it on his networks. The number of rafters intercepted in their attempt to reach the United States, recalls Pérez-Riverol, “exceeds the total of the previous five years.” In 2017 they arrested 1,468, in 2018 there were 259; in 2019 313; in 2020 49 and in 2021 838 did so, according to official figures released through a statement.
The health worker also specified that of the nearly 180,000 Cubans who have entered the United States by landwithout counting the “numbers of destinations such as Europe or Latin America” is equivalent to “1.6% of the population and 2.5% of the entire labor force”, that is, “it is enough to empty seven municipalities of Mayabeque and exceeds the total number of men of working age in the province of Artemisa”.
The exodus of Cubans is an authentic “migratory catastrophe”, as the Cuban virologist based in Brazil, Amílcar Pérez-Riverol, described it on his networks.
The figures of the Cuban exodus already exceed the crises of Mariel (125,000) and that of the rafters (35,000) together, reiterated Pérez-Riverol, who believed that those who consider that this situation is not serious are “wrong” when seeing it as “thousands of more remittances” for the Island.
On the contrary, he added, being the “oldest country in Latin America”, with around 21.5% of its population over 60 years of age and only 64% of working age, “these numbers are a real catastrophe”.
This, not to mention that illegal departures by sea represent a danger for Cubans. Faced with the unstoppable migratory flow, the US authorities reported last Sunday the increased vigilance in the Straits of Florida and warned that “people who try to enter illegally by sea will be intercepted and repatriated to their country of origin“.
This Thursday the Coast Guard reported the formation of tropical storm Fiona that will have impacts throughout the Caribbean and warned Cuban rafters who “decide to migrate illegally to the United States” that if they do so under these conditions “this time, they will not It will be about if lives are lost, but when.
#breaking @USCG Cutter Paul Clark’s crew repatriated 99 Cubans to #CubaThurs.
“TS Fiona will impact the Carib. If people chose to attempt to illegally migrate to the US this time it won’t be a matter of if lives are lost, but when.”
Read: https://t.co/Wb7BVHaUxB @USEmbCuba pic.twitter.com/gUFwLefewV
— USCGSoutheast (@USCGSoutheast) September 15, 2022
According to the National Hurricane Center, Fiona, which is located about 135 miles east of the Caribbean and was moving west at 14 miles per hour (mph), will become a hurricane with maximum winds of 75 mph by the time the storm is approaching the Bahamas, so in Florida, the Border Patrol announced that they will work through the weekend and respond to emergencies wherever they occur. “Ramey Sector has begun to prepare for the storm, and I urge you to do the same,” said Sector Chief Agent Scott Garrett.
This Friday, the fleet of ships from the San Juan sector departed from the Port of San Juan, Puerto Rico to avoid the storm and protect the ships and port infrastructure from any potential damage that Fiona may represent. The Coast Guard on Thursday urged all transoceanic commercial vessels of 500 gross tons or more “to make plans to depart the port no later than the time the Yankee Port Condition is established.”
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