Monday, April 16, 2012

Mexican Navy Rescues 4 Cuban Migrants in Gulf of Mexico

Mexican Navy Rescues 4 Cuban Migrants in Gulf of Mexico

VERACRUZ, Mexico – Four Cuban migrants were rescued when a Mexican navy
ship spotted their raft adrift off Coatzacoalcos, a port city on the
Gulf of Mexico some 600 kilometers (373 miles) from Mexico City, Navy
Secretariat spokesmen said.

One of the migrants was suffering from dehydration and was treated by
navy medical personnel.

The migrants were all men and ranged in age from 38 to 50, the navy
spokesmen said.

The migrants were handed over to the National Migration Institute, or
INM, which ordered them held at the processing center in Acayucan, a
city in the southern part of Veracruz state.

Immigration officials will determine the Cubans' legal status in Mexico.

The cruise ship Oasis of the Seas recently rescued 23 Cuban migrants in
the Caribbean and handed them over to Mexican immigration officials on
Cozumel Island.

Cubans enter Mexico illegally in an effort to make their way to the
United States.

Mexico and Cuba signed an immigration agreement in October 2008 aimed at
guaranteeing a legal, orderly and safe migration flow.

The pact calls for Havana to take back all illegal Cuban immigrants
detained by Mexican authorities.

Previously, the island's government took back illegal emigrants detained
on the high seas, but it refused to accept Cubans detained on Mexican
soil while en route to the United States.

Under Washington's "wet foot, dry foot" policy, Cubans who reach U.S.
soil are permitted to remain and become legal residents, while the vast
majority of those intercepted at sea are sent back to the island.

Havana says the U.S. policy encourages Cubans to undertake risky voyages
to Florida and, in recent years, to Mexico's Caribbean coast.

http://www.laht.com/article.asp?ArticleId=493096&CategoryId=14091

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