800 Haitians bound to U.S. lands in Cuba

More than 800 Haitians trying to get to the U.S. shores aboard a ship have instead landed in central Cuba.

According to the report by The Guardian, this was the largest group of Haitians who are fleeing their crisis-stricken country in hopes of starting anew in the so-called land of the free.

The ship was crammed with 842 people, which were given medical attention in the province of Villa Clara at a tourist campground after arriving on Tuesday.

There were 70 children and 97 women in the group, with two of them pregnant, the Telecubanacán broadcaster reported on Facebook.

https://twitter.com/cubadebatecu/status/1529418136541401088

Because of several days of stormy weather and thunderstorms, the boat carrying the Haitians found its way towards Cuba. The Haitians were found near Caibarie, which is not far from Cayo Santa Maria—a popular vacation destination to a strip of all-inclusive resort hotels.

It is not strange for the currents and the winds to carry boats to Cuba since it borders “most of the sea path between Haiti and the US,” The Guardian reported, adding that Cuba returns most of the arriving migrants to Haiti. What seemed unusual was the number of Haitians trying to flee their country that were jampacked in one boat.

Over the years, Haiti has experienced a number of grueling events that has driven the country’s economy into a deeper plunge. After the assassination of their former president Jovenel Moïse, there has been a spike in gang-related violence and kidnappings in Haiti. On top of that, the natural disasters have not spared Haiti, and all of these have forced thousands of people to leave their country in the past year. According to U.S. authorities, the number of detained in and around U.S. jurisdictions in the Caribbean has doubled.

In the recent months, the U.S. Coast Guard and other Caribbean nations have intercepted boats with more than 100 Haitians hoping to escape their fate in their motherland.