balsero

What it means

1. 1.

   Someone who leaves Cuba by sea on an improvised raft or boat. Used descriptively rather than pejoratively, including by the people it describes.

2. 2.

   Loosely, any Cuban who emigrated irregularly, even by land through Central America — a stretch of the word that older speakers dislike.

Examples with translations

• Mi tío salió de balsero en el 94 y llegó a Cayo Hueso.

  My uncle left by raft in '94 and made it to Key West.

• Se tiró al mar de balsero con otros cinco.

  He took to the sea on a raft with five others.

Where it comes from

From balsa, 'raft', with the agent suffix -ero. The word became general during the crisis of August 1994, when the government briefly stopped policing departures and tens of thousands left on rafts made of inner tubes, doors and polystyrene.

First attested: 1994