VOA新闻杂志2022--大批古巴人逃往美国

Cubans Fleeing to US in Large Numbers

American immigration officials report a sharp increase during the past year of Cubans fleeing their country for the United States.

Border protection officials say they stopped Cuban migrants trying to enter from Mexico almost 155,000 times from January to July, The Associated Press reports.

Most of the migrants fly to Nicaragua as tourists and then slowly make their way to the U.S. border. Many enter the states of Texas and Arizona.

A smaller number attempt trips across the ocean. The U.S. Coast Guard reports it seized more than 4,600 Cubans from last October to this month.

Most of the migrants caught are released with orders to appear in immigration court or report to immigration officials.

It is the largest migration¹ of Cuban exiles since the Mariel boatlift in 1980, when nearly 125,000 Cubans came to the U.S. over a six-month period.

The latest increase is fueled by Cuba's severe economic situation. The country's economy has been hit hard by U.S. sanctions and slowdowns linked to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Large demonstrations² in Cuba last year led to widespread arrests and fear of increased political oppression. As a result, a growing number of Cubans began to flee. In November, fleeing became easier when Nicaragua stopped requiring visas for Cubans.

Reporters from the AP recently spoke³ with three men who shared their experiences fleeing Cuba. Two of the individuals did not want to be named because they fear for the safety of family members still on the island.

One of the men is Rolando José Cisneros Borroto of Camaguey, a city in central Cuba. The 42-year-old street seller said he was tired of going hungry. He said he decided⁴ to leave his wife and three children in hopes of finding more profitable work in the U.S.

He sold all his belongings⁵ and collected $13,000 for the trip. After taking six flights, he finally arrived in Nicaragua in June. From there, he travelled on land through Honduras and Guatemala to Mexico.

While hiding from Mexican police, Borroto said he spent days drinking water from a river and eating only grass. He finally crossed into the U.S. south of Del Rio, Texas, and surrendered to Border Patrol officials. He was released after three days of detention⁶ and now lives in Algona, Iowa, where a cousin offered him a room in his house and food. The trip lasted 36 days.

"I never thought it would take so much work to arrive," Borroto told the AP. "What one goes through along the way I do not advise anyone, but Cubans prefer to die on the way before staying in Cuba."

One of the other men told the AP he was jailed in Cuba for taking part in protests in July 2021. When he was temporarily freed to wait for a sentencing decision, he decided to flee.

Unemployed⁷, he asked his father, who lives in Texas, for about $15,000 to pay smugglers to help him escape.

First, he travelled 400 kilometers to Ciego de Avila, a city in the center of the island. From there, a bus took him and 30 other passengers about 100 kilometers where a boat was waiting. Among the migrants were a pregnant woman and a 7-year-old boy.

The group passed through the Bahamas and, after 12 hours, arrived in the Florida Keys. A Cuban friend met him and took him to a house.

The third man built a raft out of aluminum⁹ tubes to carry him and three friends. The group left from a fishing port west of Havana in May 2021. With no GPS, the man said they used stars to navigate¹⁰. After 22 hours, the group reached south Florida.

"The first thing one thinks of is leaving, that either we all die of hunger little by little, or we make an attempt," the man told the AP.

"I knew I could die in the water, but I needed to take the risk," he said.

The man is now seeking asylum¹¹ and hoping to bring his wife and three teenage daughters to join him in the U.S.

Words in This Story

tourist – n. someone who visits a place for pleasure and does not live there

sanction – n. an action taken to force a country to obey international laws by limiting trade or aid to the country

prefer – v. to like one thing over another

raft – n. a small, flat boat usually made out of wood or rubber

smuggler⁸ – n. a person who moves goods or people from one country to another secretly and illegally

navigate – v. to find the right direction for traveling using maps or electronic equipment

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 demonstrations   

证明( demonstration的名词复数 )； 表明； 表达； 游行示威

参考例句：

• Lectures will be interspersed with practical demonstrations. 讲课中将不时插入实际示范。
• The new military government has banned strikes and demonstrations. 新的军人政府禁止罢工和示威活动。

3 spoke   

n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说

参考例句：

• They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
• The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。

4 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。

5 belongings   

n.私人物品，私人财物

参考例句：

• I put a few personal belongings in a bag.我把几件私人物品装进包中。
• Your personal belongings are not dutiable.个人物品不用纳税。

6 detention   

n.滞留，停留；拘留，扣留；(教育)留下

参考例句：

• He was kept in detention by the police.他被警察扣留了。
• He was in detention in connection with the bribery affair.他因与贿赂事件有牵连而被拘留了。

7 unemployed   

adj.失业的，没有工作的；未动用的，闲置的

参考例句：

• There are now over four million unemployed workers in this country.这个国家现有四百万失业人员。
• The unemployed hunger for jobs.失业者渴望得到工作。

8 smuggler   

n.走私者

参考例句：

• The smuggler is in prison tonight, awaiting extradition to Britain. 这名走私犯今晚在监狱，等待引渡到英国。
• The smuggler was finally obliged to inform against his boss. 那个走私犯最后不得不告发他的首领。

9 aluminum   

n.(aluminium)铝

参考例句：

• The aluminum sheets cannot be too much thicker than 0.04 inches.铝板厚度不能超过0.04英寸。
• During the launch phase,it would ride in a protective aluminum shell.在发射阶段，它盛在一只保护的铝壳里。

10 navigate   

v.航行，飞行；导航，领航

参考例句：

• He was the first man to navigate the Atlantic by air.他是第一个飞越大西洋的人。
• Such boats can navigate on the Nile.这种船可以在尼罗河上航行。

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。