Mexico helps five Cubans rescued in Caribbean international cruise

Mexico City, April 7 (EFE) – Five Cuban migrants – one woman and four men – were rescued in the Caribbean, between the Florida Peninsula, the Bahamas and the Gulf of Mexico, an international cruise ship rescued after the Mexican government ).

After the rescue, which took place on April 5, five migrants were taken to the Mexican island of Cozumel.

In a statement, the National Institute for Migration (INM) of the Mexican Government (Interior) Secretariat said the institute’s agents “determine the migratory status of five young migrants from Cuba.”

The migrants said that in the first minutes of April 4, 20 people, including women and men, left Cuba for the US, but the external engine failed, causing 15 of them to abandon themselves and return to the island to swim.

Meanwhile, the other five decided to go ahead and leave the opportunity to climb the beaches or docks in the US city of Miami to the strength and course of the sea currents.

But a few hours after drifting between Florida, the Bahamas and the Gulf of Mexico, with a small amount of water and food, they spotted a large cruise ship, so one of them picked up his white T-shirt and waved it in relief.

A couple of hours later, the ship’s crew found them and put them on board, conducted a covid test and gave them dry clothes, as well as drinking water and food for a voyage to the Caribbean Sea bound for the Mexican island of Cozumel.

The report states that on the afternoon of April 5, just before launching into the Mexican Caribbean, the cruise ship authorities “contacted the Secretary of the Mexican Navy (Semar) to report what had happened and thus release them into custody.” A woman and four riders of Cuban origin. ”

Semar then transferred five Cubans to his facilities, and later to the continental zone of Quintana Ruo, where they were transferred to temporary accommodation until their immigration status was resolved.

On Wednesday, the Mexican government repatriated a group of 32 illegal migrants from the island to Cuba.

According to Cuban immigration authorities, this is the 13th such operation conducted from Mexico this year, through which 891 people trying to cross the Mexican territory into the United States returned to the island.

In recent months, the flow of illegal migrants from the island trying to reach the United States by sea or via Central America using various routes has increased significantly.

So far, in 2022, the Bahamas, the Grand Cayman, Mexico and the United States Coast Guard have returned 1506 people to Cuba, between naval and air operations.