Statement by the Cuban Ministry of Foreign Affairs

HAVANA, Cuba, Apr 22 (ACN) Between April 19 and 21, 2024, 248 Cuban citizens who had traveled to the Republic of Haiti on private business were transferred to Cuba. It was an operation coordinated by Cuban authorities with the support of the Cuban Embassy to Haiti and the permanent accompaniment of officials of our diplomatic mission.

Since early March, the Cuban Embassy to Haiti has been in close contact with the Cuban citizens who were stranded there as a result of the complex political situation in that country. It also communicated with other Cuban nationals residing in Haiti, ensuring their safety and attending to their concerns, within the existing possibilities.

At the same time, the offices of attention to the population of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Presidency of the Republic assisted the families and relatives of the aforementioned citizens who established contact, either in person or virtually.

The Embassy made systematic arrangements with Sunrise Airways, the airline that transported the Cuban citizens to Haiti, with which it agreed to keep open the option of returning them to Cuba in its aircrafts, once the conditions to do so were created.

Due to the fact that the Toussaint Louverture International Airport in the city of Port-au-Prince has remained closed, it was not possible to guarantee their departure by that route.

The Cuban authorities waited for the best moment to carry out this operation, in order to guarantee the conditions for a safe return to the homeland.

Other alternatives, including heliborne operations, were not feasible due to the large number of people involved.

The Cuban Embassy coordinated the voluntary departure of Cuban citizens by land to the city of Cap Haitien, where there are limited international flight operations.

Cuban State paid for this unique operation for all the stranded Cubans who voluntarily took advantage of this alternative. Our compatriots returned to the national territory through the international airports Ignacio Agramonte in Camagüey and Antonio Maceo in Santiago de Cuba, in 6 flights of the airline Sunrise Airways, which kept its commitment to transport the Cuban citizens.
(Cubaminrex)