14ymedio, Mexico City, 5 March 2024 — Yaileisy Asin Estévez died last Friday of a diabetic coma while waiting for a response to the CBP One appointment to fulfill the American dream. The information was spread by the influencer Niover Licea, who also mentioned the farewell letter that Faustino Betancourt Asin, the migrant’s brother, published on Facebook.
Asin Estévez, according to comments on her brother’s publication, had planned to arrive in Yuma County, Arizona. No details are provided of where she was in Mexico or whether her body will be repatriated.
The case of Asin Estévez joins that of several Cubans who have died during their time in Mexico. Yoan Marlon Díaz Escalona, 23, entered the country last September. This Havana native was also waiting for the CBP One appointment. The young man began to feel bad, he was admitted to a hospital, but his health worsened and he remained in a coma due to a brain infection.
The presenter Indira Solís confirmed on February 25 the death of Díaz Escalona, in addition to the family’s request for help to repatriate the body. His wife and his young son remained on the island.
Last December, the Cuban Yarioski Meriño also died in Mexico due to a heart attack. This man from Guantanamo, who had been hired to work in a store, had arrived in the country a month earlier. The relatives paid $5,000 to transport the body that arrived on the island on the first day of February.
Luis Enrique Méndez died last November at the Siglo XXI immigration station, located in Tapachula, where he had gone days earlier to ask for help because he wasn’t feeling well. According to the director of the NGO, Center for Human Dignification, Luis García Villagrán, this migrant from the Island “died in the Immigration facilities and not in the hospital” as was then stated in the official version.
The rafters, whose identity was not made known, “requested asylum and their request is being evaluated by the immigration authorities,” confirmed an Isla Mujeres official
However, the National Migration Institute indicated in a statement that the Cuban migrant “voluntarily requested return” to the Island. As part of the procedure, a medical evaluation was carried out. Méndez, the report reads, “did not present data on any illness,” in addition to the fact that he “reported not having chronic illnesses.”
On the other hand, this Monday, Government sources informed this newspaper that seven Cuban rafters who were rescued on February 27 12 nautical miles northeast of Isla Mujeres (Quintana Roo) by sailors from Mexico, were handed over to the National Institute of Migration.
The rafters, whose identity was not made known, “requested asylum and their request is being evaluated by the immigration authorities,” confirmed an Isla Mujeres official.
At the beginning of February, the Navy intercepted a rustic raft with 16 Cubans, including four women and 12 men, almost seven miles from Isla Contoy (Quintana Roo). The Cubans informed the sailors that “the hunger experienced in Cuba” forced them to risk their lives in search of a better life for themselves and their families.
According to official figures, the state of Quintana Roo has recorded the arrival of 24 rafters to the protected area of Isla Contoy this year. The first group disembarked the first week of January. Between 2014 and 2021, almost 700 Cubans were found on Isla Mujeres. In the last half of last year, maritime authorities reported the presence of 13 vessels, but the official number of people detained has not been given.
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