The United States authorities reported the arrest of six Cuban rafters who managed to make landfall in Florida on Tuesday, August 22.
According to the chief agent of the Border Patrol, Walter N. Slosar, the Cuban rafters would have arrived during the morning at Summerland Key, a small island located about 20 miles east of Key West.
The US Border Patrol (USBP) went to the scene after receiving a complaint of an illegal landing.
“Early this morning, US Border Patrol agents and Florida Keys authorities responded to an illegal landing of migrants in Florida and encountered 6 Cuban immigrants. The migrants arrived on a homemade boat this morning near Summerland Key,” the statement read.
Early this morning, U.S. Border Patrol agents & @mcsonews responded to a migrant landing in the Florida Keys & encountered 6 Cuban migrants. The migrants arrived on a homemade vessel this morning near Summerland Key. #floridakeys #borderpatrol #florida #cuba pic.twitter.com/boTB5f8SZz
— Chief Patrol Agent Walter N. Slosar (@USBPChiefMIP) August 22, 2023
Authorities did not share any further details about the group, such as their place of origin or the gender of the passengers, but did share photos of the makeshift vessel used to reach the state of Florida.
The boat was lined with a blue canvas, which covered a foam rubber structure that facilitated flotation. The boat had the word “USA” written several times on the sides, signaling that the group wanted to arrive in the US in search of a better quality of life.
The rafters were placed in custody, and the North American institution will decide if any of them will be able to stay in the country or if all of them will eventually be returned to the Greater Antilles.
Cuban rafters who died in 2023
Figures shared by the Missing Migrants project, belonging to the International Organization for Migration (IOM), points out that at least 71 migrants had lost their lives at sea since the current fiscal year 2023 began on October 1.
The document specifies that 69 of the rafters drowned, while one died due to “extreme” environmental conditions and the last died from causes that were not specified by the IOM.
The organization specified that collecting this data was very difficult, since most of these trips are undertaken in secret, without the families of those who attempt it knowing what is happening.
In that sense, they point out that they can almost never count the exact number of those who disappear on a boat, which makes it almost impossible to maintain an accurate count of missing persons at sea.
