By The newspaper
Feb 22, 2024, 9:22 PM EST
A flight with 51 irregular Cuban migrants deported from the United States arrived in Havana this Thursday, and with them there are 243 those returned to the island from various countries in the region this year, state media reported.
With this group – made up of 46 men and five women – the US authorities have returned 88 people in two air operations so far this year, detailed a statement from the Ministry of the Interior (Minint).
In addition, he indicated that between January and February, another 20 people were returned on commercial flights from the Cayman Islands, Bahamas and the Dominican Republic.
Cuba and the United States resumed deportation flights for “inadmissible” people detained on the border with Mexico in November of last year.
The first return – with 123 people – took place this way on April 24, 2023.
The governments of Havana and Washington also have a bilateral agreement so that all migrants who arrive by sea to US territory are returned to the Caribbean country.
This Wednesday, the United States Coast Guard handed over to the Cuban authorities a group of 25 irregular migrants (16 men, 8 women and one minor) who had tried to reach the United States after an illegal departure through Playa Baracoa, Artemisa province. (west).
In 2023, Cuba received back a total of 5,253 nationals, mostly from the United States, but also from other countries such as Mexico, Bahamas, Belize, Cayman Islands and the Dominican Republic.
Between 2022 and 2023, a record number of 425,000 Cuban migrants arrived at the southern border of the United States. During the last fiscal year, 200,287 arrived, according to a report from the US Customs and Border Patrol Agency.
Cuba is experiencing an unprecedented migratory wave both in terms of the volume of migrants and its temporal extension due to the serious economic crisis it is suffering with a great shortage of basic products (food, medicine and fuel), galloping inflation, frequent power outages and dollarization. part of the economy.
Estimates for 2022 indicate that around 4% of the Cuban population left the country and this year’s figures could be similar according to those accumulated to date.
With information from EFE.
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