More people are fleeing Cuba now than during 1980 and 1994 crises

­­­Bloomberg

Cuba is seeing its biggest exodus to the US in decades following a series of economic body blows that have worsened shortages and power blackouts.
Border officials have encountered nearly 178,000 people fleeing the communist-run Caribbean nation of 11 million so far this fiscal year, according to US government data through July. Most are coming by land, after leaving the island for other Latin American nations that don’t require visas.
“The current wave of Cuban migrants has officially surpassed the previous two largest waves of Cuban migration to the US — the Mariel boatlift in 1980 and the Balsero crisis of 1994 — combined,” according to a newsletter by the Center for Democracy in the Americas, an advocacy group in Washington that calls for lifting sanctions. Those crises were also triggered by economic downturns.