RHC

Havana, January 5 (RHC)-- The U.S. Coast Guard returned to Cuba 119 irregular migrants who participated in illegal departures from the island by sea, local press reported.

According to a television news report, this is the first operation in 2022 and constitutes the most significant number of returnees through northern territory in the last four years.

The Cubans had departed in contraptions without the necessary conditions or life-saving equipment, adds the news.

The authorities of the Caribbean nation received them with hygienic-sanitary measures to avoid the spread of Covid-19.

In 2021, 980 people were returned by the United States in similar operations, in compliance with the joint declaration between both parties in 2017.

Recently, Lázaro Delgado, deputy director of the island's General Directorate of Identification, Immigration, and Foreigners, emphasized a notable increase in irregular immigration and returns last year.

According to official figures, 154 people were returned in 2020, while in 2021, the figure exceeded 1,441.

On the other hand, the newscast reported on the rescue by the Cuban Coast Guard of several people who were drifting three miles off the island's coast, with levels of dehydration present in some of them.

Cuba reiterated its commitment to maintaining safe, orderly, and regular migratory flows, even during Covid-19, and denounced the hostile policy of the United States in this regard.