The Central American Caribbean has its own season of illegal immigrants. According to AFP, landings from Cuba increase in Honduran beaches during December to May, when there is almost no wind or rain threatening the rustic ships with which Cuban rafters usually try to make this crossing.
By accident or mischief of the waves, that country has become a common destination for dozens of Cubans, whose ultimate purpose is not to migrate to Central America but the United States , via the Rio Grande or the Arizona desert.
Cubans arriving there follow the trail to Central Americans who for decades have gone through Mexico from south to north, towards the American Dream.
This month, there have been reported thirteen Cubans, who after crossing hundreds of miles of salt water reached near an island called Utila, near Honduras. They were rescued just at few kilometers from the mainland by a Costa Rican flag ship, which took them to Castilla Port, Honduras.
In 2013 the Directorate for Migration and Aliens in Honduras detained 44 Cuban rafters for irregularities in their documentation. Instead of extraditing them, they solved their problem: they were freed after handing a permit to continue their way to the United States.
The 13 Cubans who arrived this month also had their papers ready and a time limit of five days to leave.
Although immigration reform in Cuba already has one year in force, illegal departures are still an option. After all, the Cuban Adjustment Act provides immigration immunity to Cubans who assume that risk .
The Ministry of Interior and Population of Honduras posts the arrival of 1600 Cubans to its shores for the past eight years and 2014 is just beginning.
Author
Redacción OnCuba
