U.S. has returned 523 illegal emigrants to Cuba in 2021

Havana, August 24 (RHC)-- Cuban authorities recently received from the U.S. Coast Guard a total of 48 illegal emigrants, bringing the total number of those returned so far this year to 523.

According to a press release from the Ministry of the Interior (MININT), in this operation, two of those intercepted at sea did not return, in violation of the migration agreements signed between the two countries.

On August 9 and 18,  50 people involved in eight irregular departures from the island were returned, the release said.

It stated that of the eight events, seven were detected and reported in real-time by the Cuban Border Guard Troops to the U.S. Coast Guard Service, and persuasive and accompanying actions were carried out on six of them up to the limit of the Caribbean nation's territorial waters.

One of the departures took place with support from abroad in a speedboat from the United States, at a point on the north coast of the central province of Villa Clara.

The returned migrants were transferred to a facility of the Directorate of Identification, Immigration, and Foreigners of MININT to comply with the hygiene and epidemiology procedures required by the health situation due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

The statement emphasized that the non-return of all illegal migrants does not comply with the provisions of the Cuba-U.S. Joint Declaration of January 12, 2017, in which both governments ratified the commitment to guarantee a regular, safe, and orderly migration.