And Cuban rafter managed to survive two shipwrecks tracked during their journey by sea from the island to Floridaaccording to heartbreaking testimony in the international media.
Alexander, as he was identified the Cuban migrantleft Cuba in the early hours of November 16, 2022 and for 60 hours he lived a true odyssey to fulfill his desire to emigrate to the United States, he pointed out this Tuesday in his statements to BBC News.
He said that his trip began in a fishing boat, designed for eight people, but in which 20 people were traveling, including four children under the age of seven and two teenagers.
“It was a matter of seconds. A wrong turn of the rudder, with a wave coming from the front. He ran over the bow of the ship and sank it instantly,” recalled Alexander, one of only two survivors of that first shipwreck during his sea voyage.
He said the fishing boat “went down like a torpedo. There was no time for anything ”and that since he was sitting in the stern he managed to jump before the boat that sank in the Straits of Florida, which is more than a kilometer and a half deep, sank.
Although the adults came to the surface, the youngest children, who were traveling in the cabin of the boat, could not get out, the Cuban told the aforementioned outlet.
He also said that with his compass he tried to encourage the rest of the adults who swam with him to get to land, but the parents did not want to leave the place where their children had sunk with the boat and they finally lost sight of the group. .
He drifted for two days and two nights until other Cuban migrants rescued him, but that second boat also sank because it was heavily overloaded.
He recalled that the only thing he could do was cling to a plastic box to stay afloat, thanks to which he was able to be rescued the next day by a merchant ship that called the United States Coast Guard, but only he and eight rafters from the second ship survived the tragic journey, in which not a few Cubans risk to emigrate to United States territory.
Alexander also said that after his rescue he remained for several days without being able to walk or eat and that he made this trip because there was nothing to keep him in Cuba and that his desire to leave was greater than the risks of that journey.
Despite this and many other tragedies that have occurred in recent years, the flow of irregular Cuban migrants by sea continues.
recently, a announcement of the United States Coast Guard updated the data of Cuban rafters intercepted or found by their crews in the Straits of Florida since October 1, 2022, when the current fiscal year began: 6,761 immigrants.
The Seventh District of the Coast Guard, in addition, once again warned of the uselessness and risk of these illegal trips by sea, especially during the hurricane phase.
“Remember that weather conditions in the Straits of Florida and the Caribbean can change rapidly. Irregular and illegal migration attempts by sea are especially dangerous, and you will be rescued and repatriated,” the agency recently warned on its Twitter account.
Until last June 8, the US Coast Guard had detained 6,701 Cubans at sea, a figure that for months exceeded the entirety of the previous fiscal year.
“The maritime borders are closed to illegal entry into the United States. If attempted, it will result in disqualification from the parole process in Cuba,” recalled Lieutenant Travis Poulos, Coast Guard District Seven.
The arrivals of rafters in the Miami sector experienced a new peak of 5,929 during April last, the greatest of the last three years.
According to data from the Department of Customs and Border Protection (CBP), the arrivals of Cubans by sea to the Florida coast totaled 22,530 in the first seven months of fiscal year 2023 (FY2023).
Following the gradual closure of land borders, arrivals by sea in South Florida rose 476 percent from December to May. In the last month of 2022, 1,245 Cuban rafters arrived.
