Seventeen Haitian migrants, including two minors, reached the coast of Santiago de Cuba, in the southeastern tip of the country, after drifting for a week at sea while trying to reach the United States.
The boat, dragged to the beach of Siboney by the strong waves and bad weather, was carrying 14 men, one woman, and two minors (a girl and a boy), according to details shared this Tuesday on social media by the provincial head of Operations and Relief of the Red Cross in Santiago de Cuba, Aris Arias Batalla.
The Red Cross official explained, based on the testimony of the occupants themselves, that the vessel "drifted for seven days and the hydrometeorological conditions threw it" onto the Cuban coast on Monday night, although the migrants reiterated that "their final destination would be the coasts of the United States."
Teams from the Cuban Red Cross, medical personnel —"without having detected any symptoms or signs that pose a risk or imminent danger to the health of all"—, as well as members of immigration and foreign services for the care and control of the newcomers, were dispatched to the landing point.