Missing Aid Boats to Cuba Found Safe After Search

Mexico City — The United States Coast Guard confirmed that two sailboats carrying humanitarian aid to Cuba have arrived safely on the island. The announcement followed a period of lost communication that prompted an international search operation involving Mexican and Cuban authorities.

According to a statement from U.S. Coast Guard spokesman Anthony Randisi provided to AFP, "The US Coast Guard received a report today at 10:36 a.m. (2:36 p.m. GMT) that the two vessels transited safely to Cuba."

Earlier in the day, Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum Pardo had confirmed an ongoing search for the two boats. Speaking from the National Palace, she explained that a Mexican Navy ship had been monitoring a humanitarian aid flotilla bound for Cuba. While the mission's main vessel arrived without incident, contact was lost with two accompanying sailboats.

"The search continues. There is a Navy ship that tracked a vessel that departed, which has already arrived, from an international brigade, and that same ship was also tracking two other small vessels. It made contact with them and after a few hours lost contact with them, and from there a search process began," President Sheinbaum Pardo stated.

The two sailboats were carrying nine people of various nationalities. They were part of the "Convoy Our America" flotilla, which has transported several hundred activists and politicians to Cuba over the past week. Upon arrival, the participants were received by Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel and took part in political acts in defense of the island.

President Díaz-Canel expressed concern over the missing vessels earlier today. "We express our deep concern for the two Mexican vessels that were transporting aid to Cuba as part of the Nuestra América convoy. From our country, we are doing everything possible to search for and rescue these brothers and sisters in the struggle," the Cuban president wrote on social media.

The Mexican Navy had launched a formal search operation. In a statement issued yesterday, the Navy reported that the vessels departed from Isla Mujeres, Quintana Roo, on March 20, bound for Havana. They were expected to arrive between March 24 and 25, but there had been "no communication or confirmation of their arrival so far."

"These vessels were scheduled to arrive between March 24 and 25 of this year, so the corresponding protocols were immediately activated, in compliance with the responsibility of the Mexican State to safeguard human life at sea," the agency stated.

The Navy alerted its Fifth Naval Region and Ninth Naval Zone commands, based in Isla Mujeres and Yucalpetén, and activated Naval Search, Rescue and Maritime Surveillance Stations. Notices were also issued to the broader maritime community to aid in locating the sailboats.

The search involved international coordination. The Mexican Navy communicated with shipping agencies and Maritime Rescue Coordination Centres in Poland, France, Cuba, and the United States. Diplomatic representations of the countries of origin for the people on board were also contacted to strengthen cooperation and real-time information exchange.