14ymedio, Havana, 20 November 2022 — Cubans Pedro Yasmani, Raúl Santana and Daisel Pons, who crossed the Rio Grande to the United States on October 17, remain in a detention centre in southern Texas and fear being “deported,” they told Univision News 23.
“They chose us at random,” Yasmani complained. The Cuban said that after surrendering to the Border Patrol, they separated him from the group of Cubans with whom he crossed the border through Mexico. There are more than 200 Island nationals on the site, all concerned about their future. “Why didn’t they free us like the others? Nobody tells us what’s going on,” he added.
Raúl Santana, another of the countrymen detained, thought that when they called him it would be to free him so he could reunite with his family, but he was handcuffed and transferred to southern Texas. “We are afraid that they will put us on a plane to be returned to Cuba without giving ‘credible fear’ a chance.”
A similar case is that of Daisel Pons, who also said that “they didn’t do any interview or check” after surrendering. “They just took me here,” to the detention center.
These complaints come a few days after the Governments of Cuba and the United States held a new meeting in Havana to address the problem of migration, which remains unstoppable.
The exodus of Cubans to the United States continues to yield record figures, with 29,872 entering illegally in October, a figure that exceeds the 26,730 who entered in September, according to data from the United States Office of Customs and Border Protection.
In the midst of the exodus, this week the death in a traffic accident of Cuban Claudia Suárez Pérez, who arrived in the United States three months ago, was announced. “My girl had an accident and it killed me,” the young woman’s mother, who did not identify herself, told journalist Mario J. Penton. “I need help to bring my girl’s body home so I can see her for the last time,” she added.
Yesi Boza, cousin of the 21-year-old girl who left her “five-month-old baby” on the Island, requested the support of any organization that is in a position to help in the repatriation efforts. “Today it was my cousin, but tomorrow it can be any of our daughters, sisters, friends, granddaughters or ourselves,” she told America TeVé.
This Saturday it was also announced that the Cuban Marcos Cabrera, who managed to reach the United States, was hit by a van while riding his motorcycle. “The doctors tell me that his brain received such a forceful blow that it burst, as they say, inside; for many it’s a miracle that the boy is still alive,” the young man’s father told América TeVé.
Due to the severity of his injury, his relatives are requesting help so that Cabrera’s mother can leave the Island with a humanitarian visa.
Translated by Regina Anavy
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