Family of Cuban balsero organizes independent search in the Bahamas

Relatives of Cuban balsero (a Cuban rafter) Magdiel Portal Lumpuy organized an independent search to find the young man. Portal was reported missing after he suffered a panic attack on December 31 in Anguilla Cay.

Anais Portal, the balsero’s sister, told Telemundo 51 that two pilots from Miami offered to use their plane to begin the search of the nearby islands.

The objective of the search "was to try to see him or for him to see us and call for help," according to his sister.

Portal Lumpuy left Cuba on a boat on December 30, 2021 in an attempt to reach the United States by sea, as many Cubans fleeing the economic, political and social crisis on the island have done before him.

His mother, Ana Lidia Lumpuy, received a call on December 31 from two people who were aboard the boat and informed her that Portal stayed in Anguilla Cay after a panic attack and refused to board the boat again to continue the journey to the United States.

It is thought that the young man was stranded on the island of Anguilla Key or one of the islands of the Cay Sal Bank, a chain of 96 uninhabited islets belonging to the Bahamas and not far from Cuba.  

"We are very worried because he is alone there, without water, without food, and it has already been many days," his sister told ADN Cuba on Saturday. Bahamian authorities are not responding to the family's informative claims, she added.

Magdiel Portal Lumpuy, a 36-year-old carpenter, is a native of the municipality of Placetas, in Villa Clara province, where his parents, two children and wife live.