Coast Guard rescued 12 Cubans in Bahamian waters (Collage: US Coast Guard – Facebook)

The United States Coast Guard (USGC) rescued 12 Cuban rafters when they sailed near Cal Key, in the Bahamas, aboard a small boat with a broken mast.

The maritime security agency reported, through a statement on social networks, that the migrants were intercepted thanks to an air patrol, carried out last Friday.

After the rescue, the Coast Guard transferred the Cubans to the Royal Defense Force of the aforementioned archipelago (RBDF) where they will possibly be imprisoned for a few days and then they will be repatriated to Cuba.

In recent weeks, the number of Cubans intercepted by the USGC has increased, as has the number of missing persons while trying to reach the United States so as not to continue living under a communist regime.

In this month of March, it has been reported the disappearance and search of at least 10 rafters who were shipwrecked near Cayo Sal, after they left the province of Villa Clara.

Elements of the RBDF managed to rescue 12 rafters who were clinging to the boat about to sink and also recovered a body, but they could not find the other people.

The lost are the mother Lisbethy Alfonso Aborresco and her minor children Luis Nestor Hernández Alfonso and Kenna Mariana Rodríguez.

Likewise, María Consuegra, Antonio Turiño Hernández, Yadiel Martínez Casamayor, Maritza Cárdenas Turiño, Orelvis Pérez Ruiz, Sekiel Castro Vergel and Leonardo Cárdenas.

Regarding this case, the relatives have already carried out an aerial search and also went to Nassau, the capital of the Bahamas, to ask the local authorities to continue the rescue operation.

Telemundo 51 reported the case of some missing rafters that on February 7 they left Alamar, in Havana, towards the Florida coast and no more was heard from them.

Yoel Rudy, father of one of the disappeared, told the US media that he has made several calls to The Bahamas to find out if his son is being held there, but no one answers the phone.

The USGC also reported the repatriation of 26 Cuban rafters intercepted in different events that occurred near Marathon and Key West, in Florida. Before being returned, they received food, water and basic medical care.

In the current fiscal year, which began in October 2020, said US agency already intercepted more than 100 rafters from the Greater Antilles who ended up being deported.

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