So far in 2024 a total of 291 migrants have disappeared or died in Caribbean waters
EFE (via 14ymedio), San José, Costa Rica, 30 August 2024 — At least 291 migrants have disappeared or died so far in 2024 on the dangerous maritime routes of the Caribbean, and international protection actions must be increased, according to the Program of Missing Migrants of the International Organization for Migration (IOM). It added that the route with the most victims is the one that goes from Cuba to the United States, with 142 deaths.
The program’s data indicate that, as of August 30, at least 291 migrants have disappeared or died in 2024, an 18% increase compared to the 247 recorded for all of 2023.
The second deadliest route by sea is the one taken from the Dominican Republic to Puerto Rico, with 91, followed by the route to the Canary Islands, with 15, and from Haiti to the Dominican Republic, with 1 death, according to the program’s data.
The deaths represent an 18% increase, compared to the 247 that were recorded for all of 2023
The regional monitor for the Americas of the Missing Migrants Project, Edwin Viales, said this Friday, in a working session with other similar organizations, that the dangerous natural and climatic conditions of these routes in the Caribbean, added to forced disappearances caused by traffickers, make the boats disappear without a trace.
“The outlook is not encouraging. Now, more than ever, the coordination of international efforts in the Caribbean is necessary to save lives,” he said.
Viales explained that these routes are used not only by migrants from Latin America and the Caribbean in their objective of reaching the United States, but there have also been cases detected of shipwrecks and disappearances of boats transporting Africans.
One of these cases was recorded on August 6, when the remains of 14 people from Senegal and Mauritania were found on a homemade boat off the coast of the Dominican Republic.
According to Viales, “these transcontinental shipwrecks have been increasing,” since April 13, when a boat was detected in Brazil with the remains of 9 people from Mauritania and Mali.
There is evidence of three similar cases between 2021 and 2022, with a total of 70 deaths in boats found in Trinidad and Tobago, Turks and Caicos, and Granada
In addition, there is evidence of three similar cases between 2021 and 2022, with a total of 70 deaths in boats found in Trinidad and Tobago, Turks and Caicos, and Granada. In 2023, there were also two shipwrecks found with supposed African migrants in Honduras and near Turks and Caicos.
Viales added that in 2023, there was also a complaint from key informants about 105 missing people on the route between San Andrés and the border area between Honduras and Nicaragua. It is suspected that there were two cases of enforced disappearance by groups involved in the trafficking of migrants, and two of shipwrecks.
In this Friday’s session, IOM presented three initiatives on migration in the Caribbean: “One by the Cuban newspaper El Toque, which collects information on the dead and missing; the Route of Life in the Dominican Republic, which aims to raise awareness and educate about the risk of irregular routes, and a project by the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society (HIAS) to serve and support Caribbean countries.
Translated by Regina Anavy
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