The United States Border Patrol has taken into custody 32 Cubans who arrived in Florida in the last two days. This Sunday, 17 rafters were arrested after making landfall on Big Pine Key. As reported in their social networks Officer Walter Slosar, people are fine.
The group of rafters joins the 15 who arrived at an uninhabited islet near the US island of Key West. The official Walter Slosar indicated that “the group was stranded and was rescued”, although it did not offer details or data on how long they had been in the place.
Hours earlier, in the same area, a Coast Guard patrol took charge of 12 rafters who were helped by the cruise ship’s crew. Sunrise of the Carnival company. Videos, recorded by the crew, of the support received by the migrants were broadcast on some television channels in Miami.
The images captured from the deck show a small boat with four oars located near the transept. Its occupants wave to the passengers and they respond with shouts. A Carnival spokesman told the television channel site 10 of Miami who notified the Coast Guard to pick them up.
The attempts of Cuban citizens to reach the US both by land and by sea have increased significantly since 2021.
Since October 1, 2021, when the current fiscal year began, more than 3,400 who traveled by sea have been detained. By land, the number is much higher: more than 140,000 from October to April, according to official data.
This Saturday, the deportation of 83 Cubans aboard the ship was also reported. Charles Sexton. According to the US Coast Guard, the rafters were the result of several interceptions in the Straits of Florida and the waters surrounding the Island.
“Navigating the seas in an unseaworthy vessel is dangerous and could result in loss of life,” Lt. Connor Ives warned in a statement. “Our crews are diligently patrolling the region to prevent people from losing their lives in these dangerous attempts,” the officer stressed.
A @WPGLLocal10 viewer cruising on the @CarnivalCruise Sunrise sent us this video from the ship as it came to the aid of 12 men stranded in a small boat south of Key West yesterday. The men, believed to be Cuban migrants, were later turned over to @USCGSoutheast. pic.twitter.com/2Rd0Uh7wID
— Chris Gothner (@Chris_Gothner) July 30, 2022
According to the report, the number of Cubans detained in their attempt to enter US territory by sea illegally, since October 1, 2021 amounts to 3,683.
While on the island, it was announced this Saturday that a boat with 141 Haitian migrants capsized off the southern coast of Cuba near the province of Cienfuegos when trying to reach the United States.
According to the official press, the ship landed after eight days sailing. “Of the 141 people who were traveling on the ship, above capacity and in precarious conditions, 22 are children, and there are pregnant women and older adults,” said Nadezka Carvajal, head of operations for the Red Cross in Cienfuegos (233 kilometers from Havana).
“The expedition had set sail for Miami, but the bad weather conditions brought them to the south-central coast of Cuba,” said one of the castaways.
This is the third time this year that groups of Haitians land on Cuban shores in their attempt to reach US territory. Last May, some 800 Haitian migrants, including a month-old baby, arrived on the north coast of central Cuba and were later returned to their country of origin.
The closest point to the United States is 950 kilometers from Haiti. According to official data, from 2001 to 2021, a total of 76 boats with more than 4,000 irregular migrants arrived in the Cuban province of Guantánamo alone.
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