Nine Cubans land on Brac on leaky boat

(CNS): Immigration officials have now confirmed that nine Cuban migrants were transported to Grand Cayman from Cayman Brac yesterday and they are currently being processed at the Immigration Detention Centre (IDC). The nine men, aged between 27 and 43, including two refugees who have landed in Cayman before, were taken into custody on the Sister Island and detained at the Aston Rutty Centre after they were found walking on the main road late Monday night by residents. The men, who were from Camaquey province, had landed on the south side of the Brac as a result of problems with their 12-foot aluminium boat, which was leaking. They had left Cuba on 7 March and were heading for Honduras.

The group revealed to local authorities that their single engine had run for about a day and then shut down but they continued the journey to Cayman Brac under sail.

This is the second group of Cubans to land in Cayman having failed in their efforts to reach their destinations.

On Ash Wednesday last week a cruise ship rescued of 24 Cuban migrants at sea when their boat was also taking in water. Both groups are now being processed, officials said, “in keeping with established protocols”, as government continues with the policy of automatic repatriation.

Three of the Cuban men escaped from the IDC yesterday afternoon but they were apprehended last night by enforcement officers.