Mexico sends back group of Cuban migrants

 

HAVANA, Cuba, Dec 17 (ACN) A group of 77 irregular Cuban migrants were returned on Thursday to Cuba from Mexico, as part of the migratory agreements between both nations.

The 52 men and 25 women returned through Havana's Jose Marti International Airport, some left the island legally and others illegally by sea, and were detained by Mexican authorities in their attempt to reach the United States irregularly.

They come from all the provinces of the national territory, except for the special municipality of Isle of Youth, and will be transferred to their places of origin after undergoing the PCR for the detection of COVID-19 and receiving the necessary medical attention, said to the press Colonel Lázaro Delgado Chaple, second chief of the Identification, Immigration and Foreigners Directorate.

He added that this is the fourth operation of this type this year from Mexico, bringing to 291 the number of people returned for these reasons from that country.

In 2021, a total of 1,441 individuals have been returned from Bahamas, Cayman Islands, United States, Mexico, Dominican Republic and Panama between maritime and air operations, a figure much higher than the one reported in 2020 when only 142 individuals were received.
Delgado Chaple insisted on the danger of these irregular migrations, in which people put their lives at risk, exposing themselves to kidnapping, rape, extortion, inclement weather and all kinds of mishaps.

This was confirmed by José Carlos Torres, 23 years old, who left the municipality of Mantua in Pinar del Río in a boat, on November 23 at dawn, with a group of about 20 people.

Arriving at the Gulf of Mexico we ran out of fuel and spent six days stranded in the ocean, we ran out of water and food and had to resort to extreme survival methods such as drinking salt water and our own urine, there was also bad weather with waves of about 10 meters, said the young man.
On the sixth day, with some of them already dehydrated and delirious, they were rescued by a merchant ship from India, which helped them and took them to Mexico where they remained detained until Thursday.

Arriving in Cuba for me is the possibility of starting from scratch, and in my case I would not do something like that again, nor would I recommend anyone to try to go that way, he added.

The Cuban government has insisted on the need for strict compliance with the January 12, 2017 Cuba-U.S. Joint Declaration on migration issues, which initialed the bilateral commitment in preventing irregular migration and preventing illegal and risky departures from the country.
This agreement aims to combat acts of violence related to such migration, resolutely discourage related illegalities, and promote effective cooperation to prevent and prosecute human trafficking and related crimes.