BELIZE CITY, Wed. Sept. 28, 2022
The Police Department’s Mobile Interdiction Team (MIT) reportedly intercepted 15 Central American migrants attempting a pre-dawn crossing of the Mopan River yesterday morning. The group—consisting of 6 adult males, 5 adult females and 4 minors—was found near Paslow Falls in the Cayo District. They were trying to evade the checkpoint in Bullet Tree Falls when the MIT encountered them. The migrants, who are from Honduras, El Salvador, and Nicaragua, are currently in the custody of the Immigration Department and may face charges for illegal entry.
This week we reported on the detention of 27 Cuban migrants near the Belizean western border. Earlier this month, a group of 16 Cubans were in a boat that drifted toward the shore of Ambergris Caye after malfunctioning out at sea, and various other instances of the detention of Cuban and Central American migrants have been reported since the start of this year.
In April, the Government of Belize, through its Ministry of Foreign Affairs, noted an upsurge in the number of Cuban migrants since the reopening of the land border. There has been some friction between the Human Rights Commission in Belize and the government due to their differing approaches to managing this upsurge—with the government making claims that some Cuban nationals have utilized refugee programs in order to avoid repatriation back to their home country. They reported in April that 13 Cuban nationals released to the Human Rights Commission following a court ruling in March fled from the shelter. Those persons never returned, and likely crossed the border.
Reports are that the current wave of Cuban migrants exceeds the number of migrants involved in the two largest waves, the Mariel Boat Lift in 1980 and the Balsero Crisis in 1994, combined.
The nation of Cuba has been hard-pressed by the unilateral US embargo in place since 1961, which was exacerbated by additional sanctions imposed by the U.S. at the height of the Covid-19 pandemic. Those additional sanctions, which include blockages on the procurement of life-saving medicines and medical supplies, have placed great strain on the country’s healthcare system.
The US embargo also resulted in a shortage of food across the island nation during that time, triggering in 2021 the largest anti-government protest since 1994.