Stars align for Cuban migrants as record numbers seek better life in US
The journey to America, often via Nicaragua, has become more viable – and many are taking their chances at the border
Ed Augustin in Havana
Sun 12 Jun 2022 07.00 EDT
One morning last spring, 22-year-old Ernesto Hernández set out from the outskirts of Havana on a rickety boat hoping to cross the Florida Straits. The plan was to leave behind a dilapidating communist-ruled island in which he saw no future, and sail into an American dream.
Nobody has heard from him, or the other six people onboard, since.
“We all know he drowned,” said Camilo Soria, 22, a childhood friend. “I heard adults talking about things like this when I was a kid, but you don’t really know what it means until you lose somebody.”
The number of Cubans leaving the island will reach an all-time high this year, analysts predict. The US Coast Guard has intercepted nearly 2,000 Cubans since October. But far more are flying to the Latin American mainland before journeying up to the US-Mexico border: 114,000 have crossed into the US since October, according to US Customs and Border Protection – 1% of the island’s entire population).
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/jun/12/cuban-migrants-us-record-numbers-migration
