Mexico Repatriated More Cubans in Two Days Than in All of 2018

In just three days Mexico deported more than double the Cubans deported in all of last year. (Granma)

14ymedio bigger14ymedio, Havana, May 6, 2019 — In only three consecutive days in May, Mexico repatriated a total of 228 Cubans, spread out in a first group of 93 on Thursday, 77 on Friday, and 58 on Saturday. In barely three days the figures for all of 2018 were surpassed, according to statistics from the National Migration Institute (INM) gathered by the newspaper La Razón.

In the five months of 2019, the López Obrador administration has repatriated 541 people by air to Cuba, triple that of the entire last year. Excluding the massive deportations of this May, the figures had already been elevated since March. Although between January and February only eight people were deported, between March and April the expelled added up to 305 people, meaning an average of 78 per month, some 500% more than the monthly average of 2018.

This Saturday, after the deportation of 58 Cubans, a new escape happened at the Tapachula station, on the southern border of Mexico, from which at least 90 islanders managed to escape after forcing a metal barrier and assaulting the Federal Police.

The escape occurs one week after a similar one in which a thousand migrants left the station, known as Century XXI, encouraged, according to Mexican authorities, mainly by the group of Cubans.

The Mexico Commission of Help for Refugees (Comar), La Razón points out, placed 796 Cuban applications for asylum in