More Cubans Try Dangerous Trips to US

More Cubans Try Dangerous Trips to US

Zuleydis Elledias has been waiting two months, hoping for a message about her husband and nephew. They were lost at sea after their boat sank as they were trying to reach Florida.

Six other families in the small town of Orlando Nodarse, Cuba, have also lost loved ones.

Due to "the pandemic my husband lost his job. Many places closed and he had been home for more than a year... And that made him desperate because we have a 2-year-old son," Elledias told The Associated Press.

Cuba is seeing a large increase in illegal migration¹ to the United States. It is being fueled by an economic crisis² made worse by the pandemic and U.S. sanctions⁴. There is also less economic aid coming from Venezuela, which has its own economic crisis. Cuba has shortages⁵ in many goods. A number of protests against the government took place in July.

It has become harder in recent years to legally enter the U.S. from Cuba. The Trump⁶ administration almost completely closed the U.S. Consulate⁷ in 2017 after a number of diplomatic⁸ members became sick with a strange disease. Some claimed the disease could have been the result of an attack, which Cuba strongly denies.

Most Cubans who want to try for a U.S. visa now have to go to embassies⁹ in other countries, but getting there is very difficult due to cuts in air travel during the pandemic. Most do not have the money to pay for flights anyway unless relatives outside Cuba can give them the money.

These difficulties have pushed many Cubans to try to get to the U.S. illegally by water. They cross on small boats through the dangerous Florida Straits.

The U.S. Coast Guard said recently it has stopped 595 Cubans at sea since the fiscal¹⁰ year began October 1. That is larger than any fiscal year since 2017. That year, the U.S. announced that Cubans that reached U.S. shores would be sent back. Under previous American policy, all Cubans that made it to the U.S. were given asylum¹¹.

But the number is still small compared with the nearly 5,400 stopped at sea in 2016. And from 1994 to 1995, and 1980, Cuba's government stopped preventing its citizens from leaving. Tens of thousands of people tried to make it to the U.S, and thousands died in the ocean.

Alina Bárbara López is a Cuban historian¹². She said that when Cuba opened its border in past years, it was because of social pressure at a time of political crisis.

But now, Havana cannot open its borders because of migration agreements signed with Washington.

At the same time, Cuba's economic reforms have not been effective, López said. The economy remains¹³ poor.

"All this makes the underlying¹⁴ political foundation of this crisis much stronger than in the previous" crises¹⁵, she said.

Cuban officials admit there are "symptoms" of a possible immigration crisis. They say, however, that President Joe Biden could stop the crisis if he ended Trump's strict sanctions against Cuba.

The United States had been giving 22,000 visas a year to Cuba for 20 years until 2017, when Trump cooled relations.

Additionally, at the beginning of 2017, while former President Barack Obama was still in office, the White House ended the policy called "wet foot-dry foot." The policy let Cubans who put a foot on U.S. shores (dry foot) remain as refugees¹⁶. Those stopped at sea (wet foot) were sent back to Cuba.

Elledias' husband and nephew were among a group of 18 men and two women who left Cuba for Florida on May 25. The boat sank the following night. Survivors¹⁷ were rescued by the U.S. Coast Guard about 29 kilometers southwest of Key West. The search by sea, land and air lasted for days.

Back in Orlando Nodarse, Elledias is praying for her loved ones to make it home safely.

"I would tell people who are thinking about this option (of crossing the Florida Straits) not to do it, that it is not a safe route. There is no money in the world that can pay for this suffering we are going through," she said.

Words in This Story

nephew — n. a son of your brother or sister

desperate — adj. very sad and upset because of having little or no hope : feeling or showing despair

sanction³ — n. an action that is taken or an order that is given to force a country to obey international laws by limiting or stopping trade with that country, by not allowing economic aid for that country, etc.

fiscal — n. of or relating to money and especially to the money a government, business, or organization earns, spends, and owes

underlying — adj. used to identify the idea, cause, problem, etc., that forms the basis of something

foundation — n. a usually stone or concrete structure that supports a building from underneath¹⁸

option — n. the opportunity or ability to choose something or to choose between two or more things

route — n. a way to get from one place to another place

1 migration   

n.迁移，移居，（鸟类等的）迁徙

参考例句：

• Swallows begin their migration south in autumn.燕子在秋季开始向南方迁移。
• He described the vernal migration of birds in detail.他详细地描述了鸟的春季移居。

2 crisis   

n.危机，危急关头，决定性时刻，关键阶段

参考例句：

• He had proved that he could be relied on in a crisis.他已表明，在紧要关头他是可以信赖的。
• The topic today centers about the crisis in the Middle East.今天课题的中心是中东危机。

3 sanction   

v.同意（某事），批准，认可；n.批准，国际制裁

参考例句：

• Prison is the best sanction against a crime like this.为遏止这类罪行，监禁手段是上策。
• Official sanction has not yet been given.尚未获得正式批准。

4 sanctions   

批准( sanction的名词复数 )； 认可； 制裁； 约束力

参考例句：

• There was general acquiescence in the UN sanctions. 普遍默认了联合国的制裁。
• Trade sanctions were imposed against any country that refused to sign the agreement. 凡拒签该协议的国家均受到贸易制裁。

5 shortages   

n.不足( shortage的名词复数 )；缺少；缺少量；不足额

参考例句：

• Food shortages often occur in time of war. 在战争期间常常发生粮食短缺的情形。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
• At the same time, worldwide food and fuel shortages eased. 同时，世界性粮食和石油短缺的现象终止了。 来自英汉非文学 - 政府文件

6 trump   

n.王牌，法宝；v.打出王牌，吹喇叭

参考例句：

• He was never able to trump up the courage to have a showdown.他始终鼓不起勇气摊牌。
• The coach saved his star player for a trump card.教练保留他的明星选手，作为他的王牌。

7 consulate   

n.领事馆

参考例句：

• The Spanish consulate is the large white building opposite the bank.西班牙领事馆是银行对面的那栋高大的白色建筑物。
• The American consulate was a magnificent edifice in the centre of Bordeaux.美国领事馆是位于波尔多市中心的一座宏伟的大厦。

8 diplomatic   

adj.外交的，从事外交的，策略的，有手腕的

参考例句：

• There are certain forms that must be followed in diplomatic circles.在外交界有一些礼节是必须遵守的。
• You must be more diplomatic in handling the situation.你在处理这一情况时，必须圆滑。

9 embassies   

n.大使馆( embassy的名词复数 )；大使馆全体成员

参考例句：

• The representatives of other countries have their embassies there. 许多国家都在此设有大使馆。 来自英语晨读30分（高二）
• Demonstrators protested outside the country's embassies all over Europe. 该国驻欧洲各国的大使馆外都有群众进行示威抗议。 来自辞典例句

10 fiscal   

adj.财政的，会计的，国库的，国库岁入的

参考例句：

• The increase of taxation is an important fiscal policy.增税是一项重要的财政政策。
• The government has two basic strategies of fiscal policy available.政府有两个可行的财政政策基本战略。

11 asylum   

n.避难所，庇护所，避难

参考例句：

• The people ask for political asylum.人们请求政治避难。
• Having sought asylum in the West for many years,they were eventually granted it.他们最终获得了在西方寻求多年的避难权。

12 historian   

n.历史学家，编史家

参考例句：

• As a historian,he was most typical of the times in which he lived.作为历史学家，他是他所处时代最有代表性的人物。
• He calls himself a historian,but his books are a mere journalism.他自称为历史学家，但是他的书都是些肤浅的通俗作品。

13 remains   

n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹

参考例句：

• He ate the remains of food hungrily.他狼吞虎咽地吃剩余的食物。
• The remains of the meal were fed to the dog.残羹剩饭喂狗了。

14 underlying   

adj.在下面的，含蓄的，潜在的

参考例句：

• The underlying theme of the novel is very serious.小说隐含的主题是十分严肃的。
• This word has its underlying meaning.这个单词有它潜在的含义。

15 crises   

n. 危机；危险期

参考例句：

• Economic crises recur periodically. 经济危机周期性地发生。
• Great crises often call forth gifted leaders. 危急存亡之际常能产生天才的领袖。

16 refugees   

n.避难者，难民( refugee的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The UN has begun making airdrops of food to refugees. 联合国已开始向难民空投食物。
• They claimed they were political refugees and not economic migrants. 他们宣称自己是政治难民，不是经济移民。

17 survivors   

幸存者，残存者，生还者( survivor的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The survivors were adrift in a lifeboat for six days. 幸存者在救生艇上漂流了六天。
• survivors clinging to a raft 紧紧抓住救生筏的幸存者

18 underneath   

adj.在...下面，在...底下；adv.在下面

参考例句：

• Working underneath the car is always a messy job.在汽车底下工作是件脏活。
• She wore a coat with a dress underneath.她穿着一件大衣，里面套着一条连衣裙。