Onlookers scratched their heads at a peculiar scene just off the coast of Havana on Monday: Cuba’s coast guard intercepted nearly a dozen passengers from a dowdy blue handmade raft with an American flag painted along the bow .
Handmade rafts are by no means out of the ordinary in Cuba, where countless ships set sail in an attempt to reach Florida’s shores. Growing waves of migrants have fled the Caribbean island over the past year by land, air and sea, an exodus fueled by a complex mix of deepening crises in Cuba.
Many of these migrants – often referred to as rafters – usually depart on rafts from remote parts of the island, shrouded in darkness to avoid being intercepted.
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On Monday, the Associated Press – amid a gaggle of journalists scrambling to decipher what was happening – watched passengers being taken from the raft in broad daylight, less than 500 yards from the US Embassy, just outside the the city’s iconic Malecón seawall.
The coastguard then dragged the boat, scurrying journalists in tow, along the Malecón and into a port as a Spanish-speaking bystander yelled “Let them go!” Many other Cuban spectators looked confused.
A rickety American-flagged raft was intercepted by Cuban authorities in plain sight off the nation’s capital, Havana.
(AP Photo/Ramon Espinosa)
Cuba’s International Press Center acknowledged in a text message that the event had occurred, but said it could not provide further details.
Basic access to information is rare, and reality can bend the imagination in Cuba. But the incident occurred at a remarkable moment.
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Last month, the government strenuously denied it caused the deaths of seven people, including a two-year-old girl, when its coastguard collided with the boat of a group of migrants traveling at night, further offshore . Some survivors accused the government of repeatedly ramming the boat.
Most emigrants try to enter the United States via the US-Mexico border, where Cubans have been stopped nearly 221,000 times this fiscal year, a 471 percent increase from a year earlier, according to data from the US Customs and Border Protection.
That migration, coupled with the reopening of US visas and consular services on the island, has accelerated talks between the two governments, which share a historically tense relationship.
The latest came this weekend, when three visiting Democratic lawmakers met with Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel and other Cuban leaders. The lawmakers left the island on Monday, US officials told the AP.
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US authorities also noted that migration was among the topics discussed.
