Two Cuban migrant boats arrive over Christmas

(CNS): Thirteen Cuban migrants who reached Cayman Brac on two boats this week are all now in custody on Grand Cayman. According to Customs and Border Control Service (CBC), the six migrants who arrived on the first boat on Christmas Day “were managed in accordance with COVID-19 processing protocols”. They were transported to Grand Cayman on Wednesday afternoon and placed in mandatory quarantine in a government approved facility.

A second boat arrived in the waters off Cayman Brac on Tuesday, 28 December, but the seven migrants on board that vessel did not come ashore and decided to continue on their journey. However, the boat was located Wednesday evening by the Cayman Islands Coast Guard offshore in East End, Grand Cayman.

The CICG declared that the vessel unsafe and the migrants were taken into custody. Last night the CBC said that this second group was being processed in keeping with the COVID-19 protocols. Afterwards, the migrants were then to be placed in mandatory quarantine.