Two vessels of migrants seized near Florida's coast resulted in the repatriation of 27 refugees to Cuba on the cutter Charles Sexton, the US Coast Guard said on Tuesday
WASHINGTON (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 27th July, 2021) Two vessels of migrants seized near Florida's coast resulted in the repatriation of 27 refugees to Cuba on the cutter Charles Sexton, the US Coast Guard said on Tuesday.
"In the first interdiction, a good Samaritan reported a 21-foot vessel with 22 people aboard, approximately 7 miles south of Key West," the Coast Guard said in a press release. "They were brought aboard Coast Guard Cutter William Trump and transferred to the Charles Sexton and reported in good health."
An additional five migrants on a makeshift raft were seized 15 miles off the Florida coast and transferred to the Charles Sexton for repatriation, the release said.
The release gave no indication that the two attempts to flee Cuba were connected with recent protests on the island against deteriorating economic conditions and a resulting crackdown on dissent.
However, the Coast Guard said it had interdicted 595 Cubans so far in the 2021 fiscal year, which began October 1, compared with just 49 Cubans in fiscal 2020.
