‘Babies have no future:’ 842 Haitians on their way to the United States end up in Cuba.

Some of the over 840 Haitians who attempted to reach the United States by boat but ended up in Cuba said Thursday that they fled violence in their country and were charged thousands of dollars by smugglers who ushered them onto a dilapidated boat and then abandoned them at sea.

It is the largest single arrival of Haitians on the Cuban coast, amid an increasing exodus caused by gang violence and other issues in the country.

“They duped us. In my case, (a trafficker) informed me that the boat would have 200 or 300 passengers, which is normal for a large vessel. But once on board, you never know how many people will show up,” said Maximaud Cherizard, a 34-year-old engineer traveling with his 7-year-old son, his wife, and his sister.

“We were embarrassed when we arrived in Cuba,” Cherizard admitted. According to him, the boat was so crowded that some passengers were on the roof.

The Cuban coast guard and other government services rescued the 842 people on Tuesday near Caibarien in Villa Clara province, about 300 kilometers (185 miles) east of Havana. They were transferred to a temporary center in a former summer camp and placed in isolation as a precautionary measure.

According to at least three migrants interviewed by the AP, the group left Tortuga Island in northern Haiti after waiting nearly two months for the trip. Word of mouth had spread about the alleged opportunity to travel to Florida, and some people claimed to have paid $4,000 each for a spot on the boat.

According to the migrants, they were taken in a small boat to the larger one early Saturday morning and their phones were taken away by smugglers who claimed the signal would make them detectable by the US Coast Guard.

Cherizard claimed he was shown a picture of a cruise liner that would transport the migrants, a promise he realized was false when he saw the dilapidated vessel. He and other migrants claimed they couldn’t see a name on the ship.

Cherizard claimed he and his family were confined to a cabin with limited access to the rest of the ship. When the captain abandoned ship at sea early Tuesday morning, they discovered that some migrants had attempted to seize control of the vessel in order to reach their destination.

Another migrant, Joyce Paul, 19, said the captain had left in a smaller vessel, causing the vessel the migrants were on to lean. The Haitians waved flashlights towards the Cuban coast in order to be rescued.

According to Paul, 15 people threw themselves into the water during the days at sea as conditions deteriorated.

According to Cuban authorities, among the migrants were 70 children, including infants.

“There is no future for babies in Haiti,” said Loverie Horat, a 30-year-old mother of a 24-day-old infant. She told The Associated Press that she and her husband boarded the boat after leaving Haiti’s capital, Port-au-Prince. Cherizard translated her Creole comments into Spanish.

According to migrants, insecurity and poverty in Haiti drove them to flee. The 19-year-old Paul claimed that gang members murdered his two sisters.

“You can’t go out on the street,” Cherizard said, citing the violence.

Some smugglers’ vessels attempting to reach the United States end up on Cuban coasts due to sea currents and winds. Although not all arrivals are officially reported, authorities in Havana have acknowledged an increase in arrivals in recent months. Migrants are typically returned to their home countries under bilateral agreements.

The Haitians arrived in Cuba at a time when the island is experiencing a severe economic crisis, with food, medicine, and fuel shortages, as well as high emigration to the United States.

“Humanitarian aid has been a real challenge,” said Andy Borges, a member of the municipality of Corralillo’s Civil Protection office, where the Haitian camp is located.

Since October of last year, US Coast Guard crews have intercepted approximately 4,500 Haitian migrants. Many people attempted to land on the Florida coast in overcrowded boats. Since mid-March, more than 3,000 of those migrants have been intercepted, indicating that the pace has accelerated this spring.

“We don’t want to go back to Haiti,” said Leverie Horat, 30, one of the Haitian migrants who attempted to reach the United States but ended up in Cuba.