A group of 10 Cuban rafters who arrived by mistake in Jamaica due to bad weather were deported back to the Island on a commercial flight that took them to the province of Santiago de Cuba.
According to the official media Granma, The group had the objective of reaching the Cayman Islands to request asylum, but a storm pushed their boat into waters near Jamaica, where they were intercepted and taken into custody by local authorities.
The aircraft used to return the rafters landed at the Santiago de Cuba airport, from where they were transferred to the province of Granma, from where they risked everything to leave in search of a better life abroad.
The state press indicated that this would be the second group of Cuban rafters to be repatriated from Jamaica so far in 2024, with the first registering on January 4, when another group of 10 people was detained on the northern coast of the Caribbean country. after they disembarked near the Excellence Resort hotel in Coopers Pen.
On that occasion, the local press indicated that the Cubans were seeking to reach Florida to request political asylum, but adverse weather conditions ended up taking the group to Jamaican territory.
Last night, Jamaican authorities returned 10 Cuban citizens by air through Santiago de Cuba, who left illegally by sea. On Thursday, the Cayman Islands returned another 4. There are 21 returns carried out this year, with 257 irregular migrants. #Cuba pic.twitter.com/fWJN13F5Ku
— MININT_CUBA (@minint_cuba) February 25, 2024
Cubans repatriated by neighboring countries
According to official figures shared by the Ministry of the Interior (Minint), several neighboring countries such as the United States, Mexico, the Bahamas and the Cayman Islands have carried out 21 repatriation operations since 2024 began.
During these operations, 257 people have been returned to the Island for having been discovered in these countries irregularly or for having tried to enter their territories illegally.
Throughout last year, 5,253 people were returned to the Greater Antilles, mostly by the US Coast Guard (USCG), which patrols the Straits of Florida in search of rafters trying to reach the coasts of the orange state.
Just this week, the USCG deported 25 Cubans who were intercepted at sea in recent weeks, among them were minors and two people who were allegedly on parole at the time of leaving the Island.
#Cuban #rafters #deported #flight #Jamaica
