A rafter who was recently released after arriving in South Florida said that right now the “only dream for a Cuban is to be free.”
the rafter Zuleni Zamora At the end of December he left Cuba. He sailed to the United States with a group of people in a precarious boat.
They drifted by the end of the year, but the lights from the fireworks helped them reorient themselves and they were able to reach their goal of reaching South Florida.
“At 12:00 a.m. on December 31, we were in the Gulf of Mexico. We watched the fireworks and it was easy, we were guided by the lights,” said the Cuban after being released this Tuesday at the Broward detention center.
“It’s not all easy what the Cuban has to do. The Cuban just wants to be free“Zamora said to Telemundo 51. “The most beautiful thing a human being can have is freedom,” he said.
Zamora was able to reunite with her husband and daughters who were already in the United States because they have Italian citizenship. She states that she had no other option to enter the land, so she ventured via one of the most dangerous routes, the sea.
Now the Cuban rafter has to apply for political asylum and wait for that status to be granted to reside in that country and later obtain US citizenship.
Monday the United States Border Patrol (USBP) warned of the massive arrival of Cubans. More than 300 people were reportedly arrested after entering the country illegally. Many were released after the authorities had processed them. Other migrants are still waiting to be cared for.
Cuba is experiencing the largest exodus to the United States in all of history. The migration crisis is characterized by high inflation, increased state repression and the loss of citizens’ freedoms.
Since the beginning of the current financial year, in October 2022, the arrival of migrants of different nationalities to US shores increased by 400%. Among them, one of the largest groups are those who come from Cuba more than 4,000 rafters intercepted so far in the current financial year period.