MIAMI, United States. – Some 15 Cuban migrants, who had made landfall in a homemade boat in the Marquesas Islands, about 32 kilometers from Key West, were rescued by agents of the United States Coast Guard and taken into Border Patrol custody this Wednesday, according to reported on Twitter Agent Walter N. Slosar.
The group had been stranded on an uninhabited island.
Just three days before, last Sunday, another eight Cuban rafters they were rescued by two Argentine ship captains in the Gulf of Mexico.
The Cuban migrants were part of a group of 20 people who left the island in a boat last Friday with the hope of landing on the shores of the United States. So far, 12 of them are still missing in the area.
The two Argentine boat captains had launched a recreational trip on the Island Gird boat, this Sunday, with the intention of going from the Gulf of Mexico to the Bahamas. In the middle of the journey they heard voices and managed to rescue eight of the Cuban castaways.
Meanwhile, this Tuesday the crew of the coast guard Issac Mayo repatriated 36 Cubansafter three rescue operations near the Florida Keys, the United States Coast Guard reported in a press release.
“Our crews work tirelessly to ensure the South Florida Straits remain safe,” said Lt. Paul Benyovszky, Deputy Chief of Enforcement for Coast Guard Sector Key West. “These migration attempts are inherently dangerous and these men, women and children are at great risk trying to navigate unpredictable seas in unsafe, overloaded and crude vessels,” he added.
Cubans continue to throw themselves into the sea, indicates the Coast Guard
“We urge families in the United States to encourage their loved ones to migrate legally,” said Lt. Cmdr. Mark Cobb, a security officer for Coast Guard District Seven in the wake of the soaring illegal migration of Cubans in the past. going from the current fiscal year.
“Illegally crossing the unpredictable Florida Straits in crude and improvised boats is very dangerous and can result in loss of life,” he added.
Since October 1, 2021, the beginning of the current fiscal year, US Coast Guard crews have intercepted 2,464 Cubans, a figure that exceeds the number of migrants from the island intercepted each fiscal year from 2017 to 2021.
According to the agency, the statistics have behaved as follows: 5,396 Cubans intercepted in fiscal year 2016; 1,468 in 2017; 259 in 2018; 313 in 2019; 49 in 2020 and 838 in 2021.
“Once aboard a Coast Guard patrol boat, all migrants receive food, water, shelter and basic medical attention,” the Coast Guard has indicated on other occasions.
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