Yanet Biton, a Cuban who starred in an impressive escape from the island aboard a jet ski, was finally repatriated, according to people close to the woman confirmed to the Efe agency on Tuesday.
“They did not give her a chance (opportunity) of credible fear,” said Luis Manuel Borges, Yanet’s foster brother. With “credible fear” Borges referred to the remedy contemplated by the United States Government so that those who allege that they cannot return to their country of origin because they are persecuted or abused can prove it in an interview with the immigration authorities, within the framework of a asylum application.
Bitón, who is 32 years old and has a minor daughter, is in quarantine at the facilities of a pedagogical institute in the province of Pinar del Río, where she claims to be “watched” by the police authorities, Borges said.
“In Cuba they have her checked and they won’t let her talk on the phone.” “She escaped because she is being persecuted there for collaborating with me” in a complaint against the prison system on the island, added Borges.
Borges, who affirms that he served “12 years, 7 months and 17 days” in prison in Cuba for trying to get his mother out of the country illegally, denounced that Bitón is being persecuted in Cuba for having collaborated with him in a complaint against prisons and that he decided to abandon the island because “he can’t find a job.”
Biton had arrived in the United States last week aboard a personal watercraft with which he crossed the Straits of Florida.
“According to the coast guard, it seems to be confirmed that the escape from Cuba happened on a jet ski as the brother had stated,” Sánchez said in his note.
Borges, who affirms that he served “12 years, 7 months and 17 days” in prison in Cuba for trying to get his mother out of the country illegally, denounced that Bitón is being persecuted in Cuba for having collaborated with him in a complaint against prisons and that he decided to abandon the island because “he can’t find a job.”
At a press conference on May 13, Borges, together with the Democracy Movement, had asked the United States authorities not to repatriate his sister, who could be prosecuted and exposed to other reprisals in Cuba.
According to the most recent data provided by US authorities, since October 1, 2020, the Coast Guard has intercepted 228 Cubans compared to 49 intercepted in the entire fiscal year 2020.