Cayman prepares for possible Cuban influx

Governor Jane Owen says Cayman’s security services are making contingency plans to respond in case recent events in Venezuela result in an influx of Cuban migrants to Cayman.

With the Trump administration exerting control over Venezuela following the military incursion earlier this month to extract the country’s president Nicolás Maduro, Cuba has lost its main supplier of oil and financial aid.

This has led to concerns that the island, already struggling economically, will face more serious problems, and may lead citizens to flee the country, as they have done during previous political or financial upheaval.

Following a recent meeting of Cayman’s National Security Council about the likelihood of large numbers of Cubans arriving here illegally, Owen, appearing on Compass TV’s Forefront show on 15 Jan., said the multi-agency Mass Migration Committee is scheduled to meet next week to discuss preparations and contingency plans.

“We need to make sure we are prepared in case any of these actions result in increased irregular migration from Cuba,” she told Forefront host Tammi Sulliman.

Commissioner of Police Kurt Walton, who also appeared on the show, added that the Royal Cayman Islands Police Service, the Cayman Islands Coast Guard, and Customs and Border Control were working together on contingency planning.

“We work closely with our partner [Customs and Border Control] in terms of these issues, but we also work with all of our other regional partners in sharing of intelligence in terms of … what does the latest intelligence suggest, whether or not there’s going to be any sort of mass migration,” Walton said.

He added, “The best thing for us to do is really plan, prepare in advance, should that happen, so we have a contingency plan in place.”

Cayman has long been a port of call for Cuban migrants fleeing persecution or financial hardship in their home country, though mostly their boats transit Cayman waters on their way to other destinations.

Those that do land here are typically detained before being repatriated to Cuba. A change in legislation in 2023 enabled far faster processing of asylum applications, enabling the government in Cayman to send Cubans home far quicker than previously, when they were able to avail of a lengthy appeals process.

The number of Cubans arriving by boat in Cayman has fluctuated over the decades, depending on political and economic circumstances on the island.

Keeping informed

Acknowledging concerns about the tensions in the region, Owen said, “From the UK’s point of view, we continue to talk very closely to Cayman and to our other overseas territories to make sure that we are providing any information that we have.”

Owen noted that UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer had talked with US President Donald Trump and other senior figures in Washington, and that Secretary of State for the British Overseas Territories Stephen Doughty had held an online meeting last week with Cayman Premier André Ebanks and other overseas territories leaders in the region to keep them informed.

“So, as we do have questions and concerns, there are routes and channels that can be provided, relying quite heavily on that relationship that the UK has, to make sure that we have the information we need,” the governor said.

She added that the United States remained a “major security and defence and overall partner for the United Kingdom”.

Regarding possible risks to shipping and air traffic, she said, “Based on the analysis I have, I do not see any short-term or, indeed, medium-term threats at the moment that would impact on Cayman.”

Air traffic was briefly disrupted following the US’s actions in Venezuela on 3 Jan.

The governor noted that the possible fallout from the Venezuela situation was not the only security concern facing Cayman.

“All of the activities over the last two weeks don’t change the fact that, more generally, in our region and close to our borders, we continue to see real risks from the threat of guns and drugs trafficking and illicit movements here and there,” she said.

She added, “We talked to the Americans about it, we talked to CARICOM, we talked to our regional partners, we talked to Jamaica. So that is not changing, and that will continue to be for us, I think, really the biggest priority that we … focus on, keeping our island safe, from the point of view of the maritime domain.”

Asked if the current instability in the region, following the US intervention in Venezuela, had increased such risks, Walton responded he did not believe so, based on what he has seen so far.

“We know that there’s, as I’ve said previously, a determination to import guns, import drugs. We’ve seen recently where our colleagues, CBC, seized four guns coming through at the airport,” he said, adding that the security services would continue to monitor the islands’ ports and to work with regional partners.