MIAMI, United States. — The United States Coast Guard yesterday deported 45 Cuban rafters who had been intercepted in two operations off the coast of Florida.
That government force indicated that the rafters were returned to the island by the crew of the coast guard Bernard Webber. Likewise, he warned public opinion about the danger of crossing the Florida Straits in small boats.
“The crew of the cutter Bernard Webber repatriated 45 Cubans to Cuba, on Thursday, after two interdictions off the coast of Florida. Follow NWS Key West for the latest weather updates and small boat advisories. The Florida Straits are dangerous and unpredictable,” the Coast Guard said on Twitter.
Recently, the Cuban Ministry of the Interior (MININT) reported on 65 rafters from the island who left Cuba illegally by sea and who were intercepted at sea by the United States Coast Guard.
The migrants, the majority residing in the provinces of Artemisa, Matanzas and Granma, were handed over to the Cuban authorities in the port of Orozco, west of Havana.
On January 24, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) released a report from the Missing Migrants Project that informed about the death or disappearance at sea of at least 69 Cuban migrants.
The document noted that many of these people died trying to reach the United States.
The main cause of death of migrants was drowning caused by bad weather conditions, which make navigation difficult and the use of precarious boats in poor condition or that are not suitable for navigation on the high seas.
