MEXICO CITY.- Seven Cuban migrants and his small dog, who were adrift on a wooden raft in the waters of the Mexican Caribbean, were rescued by elements of the Navy, authorities reported on Tuesday.
The group, made up of five men and two women, was sighted 140 kilometers north of Isla Mujeres, in the southern state of Quintana Roo, by a foreign tanker that alerted the Mexican authorities.
Following the report, a coastal vessel from the Ninth Naval Region went out to look for the migrants and rescued them 194.46 kilometers northwest of the tourist island, located off the coast of Cancun, the Navy Secretariat said in a statement.
The seven crew members of the raft, who were in good health, were transferred to the Puerto Juárez Naval Station to be handed over to agents of the National Immigration Institute, state authorities indicated.
In October, eight other Cubans who were in an improvised boat were also rescued in the waters of the Gulf of Mexico, local media reported. The group was handed over to immigration authorities in the southern state of Yucatán.
In the midst of the growing wave of migration facing Mexico, Cubans ranked third among foreigners who requested refuge in October, surpassed only by Haitians and Hondurans.
Between January and October, 15,764 requests for refuge from Cubans were received, reported the Mexican Commission for Refugee Assistance. For 2022, applications from Cubans reached 18,188, which represented more than double those reported the previous year.
Source: AP
