MIAMI, United States. – Coast Guard crews Robert Yered and Pablo Valents repatriated 203 Cuban rafters this Saturday, after 14 rescue operations off the coast of Florida, according to an official statement of the Coast Guard.
The 14 operations were carried out in the space of three days, from Tuesday, August 16 to Thursday, August 18.
Less than 24 hours earlier, this Saturday, the Coast Guard repatriated another 106 Cubans and four dogs trying to reach the shores of the United States.
Every week, dozens of Cuban rafters They approach the coast of Florida, where they are generally intercepted by United States Coast Guard agents and then deported to the Island.
“The possibility of being apprehended by Coast Guard crews while illegally migrating through the Straits of Florida is extremely high,” said Lieutenant Commander Mark Cobb of the 7th Coast Guard District. “No one should risk their lives on unsafe rustic boats in unpredictable seas,” he added.
Since October 1, 2021, the beginning of the current fiscal year, US Coast Guard crews have intercepted 4,440 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.
Last Tuesday, the crew of the Coast Guard cutter Pablo Valent also repatriated 107 Cuban rafters who had been intercepted by Coast Guard agents in nine rescue operations off the coast of Florida, according to an official statement.
“The Coast Guard and our partners patrol the Florida Straits, Windward and Mona Passages to stop illegal migration into the United States from the sea,” said Lieutenant Commander Mark Cobb, Coast Guard District Seven. “Those who are rescued or detained will be returned to their country of origin, or to the country from which they departed,” he added.
A week earlier, the crew of the Issac Mayo speedboat repatriated 36 Cubans and transferred four other Cuban nationals to the Department of Homeland Security Investigations for “further interrogation,” according to a statement from the Coast Guard.
“This year our forces have significantly increased patrolling with the intent of finding people in distress and rescuing migrants from dangerous and extremely overloaded vessels,” said Coast Guard District Seven Chief Enforcement Capt. Robert Kinsey.
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