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The two countries plan to repatriate those arrested amid the worsening economic and political crises in Haiti.
Authorities in Bahamas and Cuba say they have arrested hundreds of Haitians trying to reach the United States by sea.
The Royal Bahamas Defense Force said on Thursday it had deployed patrol ships to the southeastern Bahamas to defend itself against what it described as an “influx of migrants” from Haiti.
These ships have intercepted more than 1,000 Haitians in the past 10 days, he added.
“The Royal Bahamas Defense Force once again urges individuals to refrain from making long, dangerous voyages on dangerous ships and in so doing risk the lives of many,” he said.
The Cuban Foreign Ministry, meanwhile, said this week that an unknown number of Haitian migrants also recently arrived by boat to the coasts of its eastern and central provinces in an attempt to reach the US state of Florida. .
Cuba and the Bahamas have announced that they will repatriate migrants to Haiti. The Royal Bahamas Defense Force said repatriations were due to begin on Thursday.
“A regional problem”
Haiti, the poorest country in the Americas, struggles with rampant poverty and crime, made worse by the earthquakes and hurricanes that have ravaged the country of more than 11 million people in recent years.
The recent assassination President Jovenel Moise has further exacerbated a lingering political crisis, adding to the country’s instability.
Earlier this month, President Luis Abinader of the Dominican Republic, which shares the Caribbean island of Hispaniola with Haiti, told the United Nations General Assembly that Haiti “is already becoming a regional problem.”
In September, around 15,000 people, many of them Haitians, amassed in a camp under a bridge connecting the US state of Texas to Mexico. Many had traveled from South America, fleeing Haiti at various points in the crisis since the devastating earthquake of 2010.
The situation led to a crackdown by the American and Mexican authorities and massive deportations return to Haiti, which has been widely criticized by human rights groups.
US authorities have since deported around 5,000 asylum seekers to Haiti.
The deportations prompted former US special envoy to Haiti Daniel Foote to resign, saying the “collapsed state” could not support the return of migrants and calling Washington’s actions “inhumane.”
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