Cuban Stowaway Found On Havana Flight To Miami

A Cuban man is in custody after he arrived at Miami International Airport stowed away in the belly of the plane from Havana, Cuba.

A spokesman for the Miami airport confirmed that the man was found hiding in the plane and was arrested by immigration authorities.

In a video recorded by the passengers of the Swift Air airline plane, Customs and Border Protection (CBP) agents can be seen when they detain the person.

In 2017, then President Barack Obama repealed the “dry feet, wet feet” policy that allowed Cubans that arrive on American soil to be welcomed as refugees. Under current immigration agreements with Cuba, Cubans who are detained trying to enter the United States illegally are subject to deportation.

The increase in irregular migration from the island occurs at a time of special tension in relations between the two countries due to the Cuban presence in Venezuela. The crisis of the Nicolás Maduro regime, which subsidizes the Cuban economy, as well as the increase in US sanctions, have put the ever fragile Cuban economy on the verge of collapse, fueling fears of a new Special Period, the crisis that Cuba experienced after the end of Soviet subsidies.

As of June of this year, more than 16,000 Cubans had arrived at the southern border of the United States requesting political asylum, more than double that of the previous year. In recent weeks, the Coast Guard has also arrested numerous Cubans who were trying to reach Florida’s shores in fragile boats.