US Coast Guard returns 19 rafters to Cuba

MIAMI, United States. – The US Coast Guard repatriated 19 rafters to Cuba this Monday, after several rescue operations in the Strait of Florida, according to a statement from the entity itself.

The first case was reported by the Coast Guard District Eight, where guards were contacted by a merchant ship whose crew rescued three Cuban citizens in the Gulf of Mexico. Initially, the migrants were transferred to the Coast Guard’s Cutter Oak.

The second case occurred after a good Samaritan notified Coast Guard Sector Key West watchstanders about a migrant vessel approximately 12 miles south of Boot Key, Florida. Boat crews from the Coast Guard Station Marathon arrived on scene and safely embarked a Cuban national, who was also transferred to the Coast Guard Cutter Oak.

The third case was reported by an aircrew from the Coast Guard’s Air Station Miami, who alerted Sector Miami watchdogs about “a disabled center console with six people on board waving their arms in distress,” approximately 25 miles east of Jensen Beach, Florida.

Coast Guard Station Fort Pierce launched a boat crew to rescue the rafters, who claimed to have left Cuba six days earlier and ran out of fuel. The migrants were transferred to the Coast Guard Cutter William Sparling.

The fourth case occurred after Coast Guard Sector Key West watchstanders received a report about a migrant boat four miles south of Marathon, Florida. The Coast Guard Station Marathon launched a boat crew to rescue the 10 migrants on board and transferred them to the Coast Guard Cutter Oak.

“Our top priority is to prevent the unnecessary loss of life at sea, which too often results from attempted irregular and illegal maritime migration aboard overloaded and unseaworthy vessels,” said Lt. Commander John W. Beal, Coast Guard District Seven Public Relations Officer.

“There are consequences for attempting to enter the U.S. illegally. Those who attempt to circumvent safe, orderly and legal immigration pathways may be disqualified from future opportunities to come to the U.S., and may also be deemed ineligible for asylum, subject to to a five-year future admission ban and potentially face criminal prosecution. “Do not risk the sea,” the same officer asked.

Numerous groups of Cubans are crossing the Straits of Florida to escape the harsh living conditions on the island. In the midst of a context of shortages of food, medical supplies and a serious inflationary crisis, many residents in the largest of the Antilles risk their lives to reach the US

At the beginning of last April it emerged that more than 81,000 Cubans had benefited from the parole humanitarian. According to data from the Border Patrol (CBP), until the end of February 2024, of that number, 79,000 Cubans had already entered the United States.

Due to this same policy, however, deportations of Cubans who arrive illegally in US territory have increased.

Deportation flights between Cuba and the United States, suspended since December 2020, were resumed in April 2023 after talks between both nations to address the migration crisis.

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