A Family of 20 Cubans Arrives in the United States Aboard a Speedboat from Cojimar

The group of Cubans left immigration headquarters and are already with their relatives, a Havana professor confirmed. (Facebook/V Sorjes Martín)

14ymedio bigger14ymedio, Havana, 17 October 2022 — A group of 20 Cubans who left the Island through the port of Cojímar (Havana) arrived in the United States, according to a post shared this Monday on Facebook by Professor V. Sorjes Martín. “Dream fulfilled,” said this habanero, who has studied engineering and law.

“We all left immigration today for our family homes,” said Sorjes Martín, who had “maintained a low profile” with some friends due to the imminent escape that was being planned.

Sorjes Martín, who among many other sacrifices had to sell his house to make the trip, said in a video that the crossing took 10 and a half hours, and there were times when the crew was “stressed. We had to go around three or four boats and finally a coastguard boat that fell behind and couldn’t catch us.”

The current situation in Cuba “with a tremendous amount of political problems,” commented Sorjes Martín, motivated this group to “flee.” The professor, who shared several images in which four children and a dog are observed, said: “Here everyone is family.”

On the speedboat, the habanero reported that the U.S. authorities will determine his fate.

So far in October, 205 Cubans have managed to make landfall in Florida, most on rustic rafts, although two of them arrived on October 12 on windsurfing boards. The latter “will be subjected to a deportation procedure,” warned the head of the Border Patrol of the Miami sector, Walter Slosar.

Just as the arrival of Cuban balseros [rafters] doesn’t stop, neither do the deportations, and the American Coast Guard repatriated 80 Cubans between Saturday and Sunday. The migrants were returned to the Island aboard the ships William Flores and  Paul Clark.

The repatriated balseros are part of six interceptions made in the vicinity of Key West, the Tavernier Creek sports fishing port, Marathon and Sugar Loaf.

The Coast Guard non-commissioned officer, Nicole Groll, urged Cubans to choose a safe and legal path to get to the U.S. “so that families don’t wonder where their loved ones are when they choose to migrate illegally.”

Translated by Regina Anavy

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