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Brazil intercepts 108 Cuban immigrants amid growing asylum applications
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Last year, for the first time in a decade, Cuban asylum applications exceeded Venezuelan ones in a sign of growing strain on the island.Brazilian police have intercepted 108 Cuban nationals in a single day as they were being smuggled into the country.In a statement on Tuesday, officials noted that the incident was part of a growing trend of undocumented immigration leaving the beleaguered Caribbean island for Brazil.Recommended Stories list of 3 itemslist 1 of 3US raises pressure on Cuba as it sanctions President Diaz-Canellist 2 of 3UN human rights leader calls for Cuba sanctions to be ‘lifted immediately’list 3 of 3Cuba’s Raul Castro makes first public appearance since US chargesend of listBrazil’s Ministry of Justice and Public Security described the operation as a “rescue”, designed to disrupt human trafficking and irregular migration.“According to the Federal Highway Police (PRF), this was the largest humanitarian rescue operation ever recorded in a single incident in Roraima,” the ministry said, referring to one of Brazil’s 26 states.Roraima is situated in the Amazon rainforest, along the border with Guyana and Venezuela. The ministry said that a “large portion” of Cubans are using Guyana as a gateway to enter Brazil.Some 57.6 percent of the Cuban immigrants living in Brazil are either in Roraima or Amapa, another northern border state.Cuba has been facing a heightened humanitarian crisis in recent months, as it weathers a de facto fuel blockade imposed by the United States.Since January, no foreign oil has been allowed to reach the Caribbean island, save for one Russian tanker. The US has threatened steep tariffs against any country that might seek to supply Cuba with oil, a necessary fuel for its fragile energy grid.The blockade has had wide-ranging repercussions, with public services in many areas grinding to a halt. The country has been gripped by multiple island-wide blackouts, and residents are reporting difficulties accessing basic supplies like food and medication.Critics fear the pressure will lead to new waves of migration off the island. During the COVID-19 pandemic, for example, economic decline contributed to a mass exodus, with Cuba’s population dropping by roughly 10 percent or more.Since 2024, Brazil’s Federal Highway Police say they have “rescued” roughly 297 migrants and asylum seekers in Roraima, most of them Cuban.Five “coyotes”, or human smugglers, were arrested during Monday’s law enforcement efforts, which come as part of Operation Safe Route, an initiative launched in December 2024 to ensure roadway safety.Three separate sets of arrests were made. One involved a convoy of three vehicles that attempted to flee federal police after being signalled to stop. Inside the vehicles were 39 Cubans, including children, being “transported in precarious conditions”.“Many reported having gone without food for at least two days,” the Justice Ministry said.In another incident, police found eight Cuban immigrants after seizing a vehicle that crossed the border illegally. In a third, law enforcement followed a vehicle suspected of human smuggling to a residence where 61 Cubans were found.All 108 of the Cubans recovered on Monday were transferred to police officials for “immigration regularisation and subsequent referral to the social assistance network”, according to the Brazilian security ministry.In its annual migration report for 2025, the ministry described Cuban immigration to Brazil as stable or even descending during the last decade, up until the early years of the COVID-19 pandemic.“Migration flows of Cubans to Brazil were never particularly intense,” the report said. But then, starting in 2022, Cuban immigration into Brazil started to “rebound vigorously”.“It is important to note that, in 2025, refugee applications submitted by Cubans surpassed those submitted by Venezuelans — not only due to a drop in applications from the latter group but, above all, due to the sharp rise in cases filed by Cubans, excee
Volker Turk, the high commissioner for human rights at the United Nations, has issued some of his harshest criticism yet of the recent sanctions the United States has imposed on Cuba.On Monday, Turk drew a line between the increasing restrictions on the Cuban economy and reports of heightened death rates, particularly among children.Recommended Stories list of 3 itemslist 1 of 3The Take: Will Donald Trump turn Cuba into the next Venezuela?list 2 of 3US raises pressure on Cuba as it sanctions President Diaz-Canellist 3 of 3Cuba’s Raul Castro makes first public appearance since US chargesend of list“The fuel restrictions imposed since early 2026 and recent tightening of extraterritorial sanctions, taken together, are directly harming Cubans, especially the most vulnerable,” Turk said in a statement.“Children are dying because doctors lack access to essential medical supplies and medicines. This is unacceptable.”Such “severe sanctions”, he added, run contrary to the “basic principles of international human rights law”. He called for them to be “lifted immediately”.Turk’s comments are a direct response to the suite of actions taken under US President Donald Trump to tighten pressure on Cuba, a Caribbean island that has already weathered a decades-long US trade embargo.Starting in January, the Trump administration moved to cut off Cuba’s foreign oil supply, a linchpin for its ageing energy grid.First, it severed supplies of oil and funds from Venezuela. Then, on January 29, Trump issued an executive order declaring Cuba to be an “unusual and extraordinary threat” to US national security. As such, he said, any country that supplied it with oil would be subject to steep tariffs.In the months since, the Trump administration has continued to layer sanctions on Cuba. In May, for instance, penalties were announced against Cuba’s Interior Ministry, its National Police and its Directorate of Intelligence.Those were followed this month by sanctions targeting Cuba’s president, Miguel Diaz-Canel, as well as members of his family.The sanctions are designed to penalise those “responsible for repression” in Cuba, an island whose communist government has been accused of stifling dissent, as well as imprisoning and torturing activists.Turk on Monday acknowledged Cuba’s human rights record and called on the country to “release all those arbitrarily detained”.But he also pointed to the mounting death toll associated with the US sanctions, which have isolated the island country from much of the world.The sanctions freeze any US-based assets the target may have, but they also prohibit entities from conducting business with the sanctioned parties. That can result in difficulties accessing global financial systems and other international platforms.The de facto oil blockade has also resulted in the increasing frequency of power outages, and essential services like public transportation and medical care have faced reductions. Turk pointed to those downstream effects in his remarks.“Cuba faces increasing isolation,” he said. “Companies are leaving. Fewer airlines fly to the country. It is almost disconnected from international payment systems.”Turk’s office has also highlighted the human costs of the sanctions. According to the statistics it cited, infant death rates have doubled, reaching 9.9 for every 1,000 births. The survival rate for childhood cancer, meanwhile, has declined from 85 to 65 percent.In March, the Cuban government also warned of medical needs going unanswered as a result of the energy shortage. It estimated that there was a backlog of 96,387 people awaiting surgery, 11,193 of whom were minors.It also underscored that 16,000 patients needed radiotherapy, and another 2,888 required dialysis, two treatments that depend on steady electrical supplies.Turk’s remarks also pointed to the risks posed by the Atlantic hurricane season and other natural disasters. Within hours of his remarks, western Cuba was rattled by a powerful 6.1-magnitude earth
NewsFeedFormer Cuban president Raul Castro made his first public appearance in Havana since being indicted by the United States on murder charges linked to the 1996 downing of two civilian aircraft. He was cheered at an event commemorating the Interior Ministry, attended by military officials and Cuba’s Olympic wrestling champion.Published On 6 Jun 2026
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