Havana (AFP) – The United States recorded about 153,600 irregular entries of Cubans into its territory in 2023, US Customs and Border Protection released on Saturday.
First change: 01/28/2024 – 02:32 a.m. Last change: 01/28/2024 – 02:30 a.m
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These irregular entries by Cubans into the United States were in addition to those of 67,000 islanders who flew directly to U.S. airports and are covered by the program known as Parole, which Joe Biden's administration introduced in 2023 to ensure an “orderly, to enable “legal and safe” migration. the citizens of Cuba as well as Haiti, Venezuela and Nicaragua.
Last year's global figures released on Saturday show that the mass migration of Cubans, which accelerated in early 2022, did not stop in 2023. The United States recorded the irregular entry of 313,000 Cubans in 2022.
The migration wave of the last two years is unprecedented since the arrival of the revolutionary government of Fidel Castro (1926-2016) in 1959.
This massive emigration is preceded only by that of Mariel in the 1980s, when 130,000 Cubans left the country, followed by that of the “Rafters” with 35,000 in 1994. At the beginning of the revolution, between 1960 and 1963, about 300,000 fled for political reasons . .
The Cuban withdrawal comes amid the island's severe economic crisis, the worst in three decades.
Many fly to Nicaragua, which has exempted them from visa requirements since November 2021, and from there embark on a risky journey overland to the US border.
This heavy influx of Cubans triggered an unusual traffic of subleased flights to Managua in 2023, a phenomenon that led Washington to sanction those airlines in November.
© 2024 AFP