HAVANA.- The United States Coast Guard deported 16 migrants to Cuba who had left the Island illegally on April 6 heading to the North American country in search of a better quality of life.
The deportation was carried out from the Port of Orozco, Bahia Honda, province of Artemisa, reported the Ministry of the Interior of the Cuban regime.
They were 11 men and five women, most of them residents of Sancti Spiritus, who left through Jaimanita, in the Havana municipality of Playa, reports the CubaNet web portal.
One of those returned was on conditional release and will be placed at the disposal of the corresponding courts for the revocation of that benefit, the information stated.
This was the 28th operation to return irregular migrants from various countries to Cuba. A total of 357 people have been returned to Cuba so far this year.
In their desire to reach American shores, numerous groups of Cubans embark on the dangerous maritime journey.
Escaping from a context of shortages of food, medical supplies and growing inflation, many Cubans risk their lives to achieve a better one.
Last week, for example, a total of 14 Cuban rafters were taken into federal custody after disembarking on a sailboat in the Florida Keys.
Even so, and in the midst of the current Cuban immigration crisis, due to which almost half a million Cubans have entered the United States in the last 3 years, the humanitarian parole program has decreased the flow of rafters.
It recently emerged that more than 81,000 Cubans have benefited from the humanitarian parole implemented by the Biden administration. According to data from the Border Patrol (CBP), until the end of February 2024, of that figure, 79,000 Cubans had already entered the United States thanks to the program.
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. The first return air operation took place on the 24th of that month, with 123 people on board.
