Minister of Foreign Affairs of Honduras quotPolitical change in Latin

Mexico and the US are returning nearly a hundred migrants to Cuba

Havana, July 8th. Mexico and the United States returned a group of 98 migrants to Cuba this Friday, bringing the number to 4,013 so far this year, including those deported from the Bahamas and the Cayman Islands.

Twenty-four Cubans have returned from Mexico and 1,363 have been admitted so far, according to Cuban immigration officials, quoted by state agency Prensa Latina.

Meanwhile, 74 Cubans have been intercepted by the United States Coast Guard. This brings the number up to a total of 2,388 this year.

Data from the US Department of Customs and Border Protection shows that 140,602 migrants arrived in the area from the island in the first eight months of the current fiscal year alone.

That number surpasses the largest ever exodus of Cubans in 1980, when 125,000 people left the port of Mariel in just seven months.

Cuba cites the Cuban Adjustment Act as grounds for citizens attempting to reach the United States irregularly by land or sea.

This legislation allows access to permanent residency in the United States for Cubans who have resided in their territory for at least one year.

She also accuses the United States of encouraging migration flows and not complying with bilateral agreements in this regard.

Experts link the increase in the emigration of Cubans primarily to the severe economic crisis that the island is going through. EFE

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