A group of 28 Cubans are in the Coral Harbor detention center, in New Providence (Bahamas), waiting to be processed. The rafters were handed over to the Royal Defense Force by a boat that rescued them off the coast of the Exumas Islands.
Chief Petty Officer Acadia Smith welcomed “the sharing of information and intelligence provided by the nautical community to intercept migrants and other illegal situations at sea.” The official reported in a statement that the rafters were in good condition and would be “subjected to a process by immigration officials.”
Bahamas Minister of Labor and Immigration Keith Bell said early 2022 saw an increase in 343% in the number of Cubans they intercepted on its coasts and an increase of 51% of Haitians compared to 2021.
This year there have been returns of rafters. Last May, the Bahamas authorities returned 23 people to Cuba. The rafters were deported along with 74 others who were repatriated by the United States Coast Guard. All were delivered through the port of Orozco, in the province of Artemisa.
In April, the Bahamas returned a group of 41 migrants (37 men, 3 women and one child) by air. The flight, which landed in Havana, was recorded as operation number 13 of this type and the statistics then included 599 returned Cubans.
On the other hand, in Mexico, the authorities have been overwhelmed by the thousands of migrants who every day go to the different offices of the Mexican Commission for Aid to Refugees (Comar) in search of a document with an official registration number to prevent them from being deported. The general director of the organization, Cinthia Pérez Trejo, confirmed to 14 intervene that in the week they have assisted 10,000 migrants, the majority “Cubans, Hondurans and Haitians.”
Due to the fear of being deported due to the information disseminated in some media, Cubans are requesting refuge, says Pérez Trejo. “What is being done is to summon them to the offices in Ixman (almost 5 kilometers from the Ecological Park, where they begin the process). In this place they are given the document that records that they are asylum seekers, in other words, “These people cannot return to their country of origin because there is a risk, which is why the Mexican State organizes itself to guarantee non-refoulement.”
The official also warns Cubans who receive this permit that “it is not useful for them to travel through the country.” Pérez Trejo insists that Comar “is not providing immigration documents”, what it does, he insists, “is grant a document for non-refoulement, but that does not imply the condition of stay.” So if migrants move to other states with Comar documents and Immigration agents detain them, they could be returned to their country.
Although the number of migrants in the Comar offices set up in the ecological park decreased, almost 2,000 Cubans are waiting their turn to be treated. Luis, a 36-year-old man from Havana, is afraid that the Army will deport him. “There’s a reason they don’t give safe passage. They say that in order not to be deported you have to apply for refuge, that’s why I’m in line.”
The Havana native travels with his wife and a nephew; He assures that in 12 days of stay in Tapachula they have lived through hell, sleeping on the street “because they charge you 70 dollars a night in a hotel.” They also ruled out joining the caravan that left this week, which is made up of about 1,000 Cubans.
The journey of Cubans who make the route through Nicaragua “is expensive and risky,” said Yunier Castillo. During his stay in Tapachula, this Cuban has gone several times to businesses that exchange remittances; his brothers who are in the United States are paying for the transfer, which to date already amounts to 23,000 dollars.
“To be able to get to the United States is more expensive for Cubans, because they think we have a lot of money, but here in Tapachula we survive with what our relatives send us and that is why there are very long lines, since otherwise these places would be empty,” he said.
In their attempt to leave, some migrants pay truck drivers to advance their journey. This Thursday, a van with more than 20 migrants from Guatemala and Ecuador overturned on the stretch of road in the Buena Vista community, in the municipality of Raudales Malpaso (Chiapas). Authorities reported four deaths and 16 injuries.
The accident occurred around 4:30 p.m. and Civil Protection agents, as well as Security and the National Migration Institute (INM), arrived at the scene, who transported the injured to the hospital in the municipal capital.
Given the migratory flow, the Government of Mexico is exploring the possibility of beginning to deport to Ecuador, Venezuela and Colombia migrants from these countries who are rejected in the United States, Mexican Foreign Minister Alicia Bárcena revealed this Friday.
Currently, Mexico carries out six deportation flights a week to Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador, Bárcena explained at a press conference in Washington with the United States Secretary of State, Antony Blinken, and other senior officials.
Bárcena did not go into more details about the immigration agreement that, according to some media, Mexico had closed with the United States to quickly deport migrants stranded in border cities.
The migration phenomenon has led to the suspension of freight trains in Mexico due to the presence of thousands of migrants in the cars and on the tracks, demonstrations, camps on the Rio Grande on the border with the United States, and clashes with Mexican and US authorities.
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