Nearly 300 Cubans Detained This Weekend Trying To Enter Honduras

Nearly 300 Cubans Detained This Weekend Trying To Enter Honduras / 14ymedio
Posted on September 26, 2015

14ymedio, 22 September 2015 – A total of 281 Cubans have been detained
this weekend while trying to enter Honduras through its southern border,
according to what immigration authorities of that Central American
country reported this Monday. In addition to the Cubans, there were two
Pakistanis, four Africans (without specifying the country), four
Bangladeshis and 10 Romanians.

"In all, 301 foreigners were detained as they passed through the south
zone, among them 10 minors, aged between three months and seven years,"
Jose Luis Lozano, regional director of migration, told the local press.
Lozano added that this is the largest detention recorded so far this
year, which had never exceeded 200 people.

Those detained declared that it is likely other Cubans would continue to
arrive in the country in the coming days, as several groups left the
island simultaneously with the intention of reaching the United States,
according to El Heraldo.

The flood of Cubans was so great that the Migrant Center in Choluteca
was too small to accommodate the detainees, who had been staying in a
hotel in Tegucigalpa and will have to pay with their own month for the
rooms. "In the hostel there were only the migrants from Pakistan,
Romania, Africa and Bangladesh," the official told reporters.

Lozano also said that in August alone, 2,235 people were stopped coming
in, mostly from Cuba. Before reaching the country, the detainees spent
several days in Nicaragua, and according to the authorities they had
left the country three months ago.

The passage of Cubans through Honduras has increased in recent years in
line with the increase of the migratory flow to the United States for
fear of losing the privileges enjoyed by natives of the island due to
the Cuban Adjustment Act. In 2014, some 4,249 Cuban citizens were found
without documents in Honduras, while in 2015 so far there are more than
9,000.

Honduras provides humanitarian safe conducts to Cubans who step on its
territory, therefore, the migrants come to the office of Choluteca to
obtain the permit allowing them to stay in the country for five days and
then continue on their way to their real goal: the United States.

The land route to the northern neighbor starts for most Cubans in
Ecuador, a country that does not require a visa or a letter of
invitation to enter its territory. From there begins a long and
dangerous journey that includes passing through seven countries:
Colombia, Panama, Costa Rica, Nicaragua, Honduras, Guatemala and Mexico.

Entry through Mexico has also skyrocketed in recent times. The number of
rafters rescued by the Mexican Navy off the coast of the Yucatan
Peninsula has increased tenfold in just two years. From January to
August 2015, a total of 208 Cubans were picked up at sea, according to
figures the Secretary of the Navy provided to 14ymedio, compared with 74
in 2014 and 26 in 2013.

Source: Nearly 300 Cubans Detained This Weekend Trying To Enter Honduras
/ 14ymedio | Translating Cuba -
http://translatingcuba.com/nearly-300-cubans-detained-this-weekend/