The Havana-based team of Ramon Espinosa, Ariel Gonzalez, Milexsy Duran and Andrea Rodriguez delivered exclusive all-formats coverage as a single vessel that set out for the United States carrying 842 Haitians landed instead on the coast of central Cuba. The migrants, who had been abandoned at sea, appeared to be the largest group yet in a swelling exodus of people fleeing crisis-stricken Haiti.
Loverie Horat, left, sits beside her mother who holds Horvat’s 24-day-old daughter, Maylie Dhavavaise, as husband Maximaud Cherizad looks on, May 26, 2022, at a campground in Sierra Morena housing the large group of Haitian migrants whose boat landed on Cuba’s central coast in Villa Clara province. The vessel carried 842 people, believed to be the largest group yet in a swelling exodus of people fleeing crisis-stricken Haiti.
AP Photo / Ramon Espinosa
Haitian migrants wait to be processed and get medical attention at a tourist campground housing the group in Sierra Morena, in central Cuba’s Villa Clara province, May 25, 2022.
AP Photo / Ramon Espinosa
Haitian migrants wait to be processed and get medical attention at a tourist campground housing the group in Sierra Morena, in central Cuba’s Villa Clara province, May 25, 2022.
AP Photo / Ramon Espinosa
Haitian migrants wait to be processed and get medical attention at a tourist campground housing the group in Sierra Morena, in central Cuba’s Villa Clara province, May 25, 2022.
AP Photo / Ramon Espinosa
Haitian migrants cast shadows on a wall as they wait to receive food at a tourist campground housing the group in Sierra Morena, in the Villa Clara province of Cuba, May 25, 2022.
AP Photo / Ramon Espinosa
A Haitian migrant rides a swing at a tourist campground hundreds of migrants in Sierra Morena, in the Villa Clara province of Cuba, May 25, 2022.
AP Photo / Ramon Espinosa
Haitian migrants wait to be processed and get medical attention at a tourist campground housing the group in Sierra Morena, in central Cuba’s Villa Clara province, May 25, 2022.
AP Photo / Ramon Espinosa
Haitian migrants wait to be processed and get medical attention at a tourist campground housing the group in Sierra Morena, in central Cuba’s Villa Clara province, May 25, 2022.
AP Photo / Ramon Espinosa
Haitian migrants wait to be processed and get medical attention at a tourist campground housing the group in Sierra Morena, in central Cuba’s Villa Clara province, May 25, 2022.
AP Photo / Ramon Espinosa
A health care worker examines a young Haitian migrant at a tourist campground housing the group in Sierra Morena, in the Villa Clara province of Cuba, May 25, 2022.
AP Photo / Ramon Espinosa
Cuban Red Cross workers help a Haitian migrant onto a stretcher at a tourist campground housing hundreds of migrants in Sierra Morena, in the Villa Clara province of Cuba, May 25, 2022. A vessel carrying 842 Haitians trying to reach the United States wound up instead on the coast of central Cuba.
AP Photo / Ramon Espinosa
A Haitian celebrates a goal during a game at a campground housing hundreds of migrants in Sierra Morena, in Cuba’s Villa Clara province, May 26, 2022.
AP Photo / Ramon Espinosa
A Haitian migrant is treated by a doctor at a campground housing hundreds of migrants in Sierra Morena in Cuba’s Villa Clara province, May 26, 2022.
AP Photo / Ramon Espinosa
A sick Haitian migrant is assisted by a member of the Red Cross at a campground housing hundreds of migrants in Sierra Morena, in Cuba’s Villa Clara province, May 26, 2022.
AP Photo / Ramon Espinosa
Haitian migrants line up for breakfast at a campground housing hundreds of migrants in Sierra Morena, in Cuba’s Villa Clara province, May 26, 2022.
AP Photo / Ramon Espinosa
Upon learning of the migrants, the AP team hurried to Villa Clara province, some 180 km (110 miles) from Havana, getting exclusive access to people who told the harrowing story of being tricked by smugglers who showed them images of a cruise ship and charged thousands of dollars. The migrants instead found themselves piling into a dilapidated boat; the captain later escaped in a small boat, abandoning them adrift.
Video journalist Gonzalez and photographer Espinosa captured images that showed the distress and fatigue in the faces of the migrants, some of them women with small children and even a newborn baby. Producer Duran was instrumental in working with the Cuban authorities and medical team to get unrestricted access to the migrants while feeding information and interviews to writer Rodriguez, who crafted the text story in Havana.
The package followed AP’s feature a week earlier on the widespread gang violence and deep instability that are driving Haitians to flee the country.
The work was widely used by AP broadcast and digital customers across the globe.