Veracruz, Mexico – Four Cuban migrants were rescued when a Mexican navy ship spotted their raft adrift off of Coatzacoalcos, a port city on the Gulf of Mexico some 373 miles from Mexico City, a Navy Secretariat spokesmen said.

According to the spokesman, the migrants were all men ranging in age from 38 to 50, and at least one of them was suffering from dehydration. The men were given treatment by navy medical personnel.

The migrants were handed over to the National Migration Institute, who then ordered them held at the processing center in Acayucan, a city in the southern part of Veracruz state. Immigration officials will determine the Cubans’ legal status in Mexico.

In a report on April 6th, the Royal Caribbean cruise ship "Oasis of the Seas" recently rescued 23 Cuban migrants and handed them over to Mexican immigration officials on Cozumel Island.

As Cubans usually enter Mexico illegally in an effort to make their way to the US, Mexico and Cuba signed an immigration agreement in October 2008 that was aimed at guaranteeing a legal, orderly, and safe migration flow.

The pact calls for Havana to take back all illegal Cuban immigrants detained by Mexican authorities. Previously, the island’s government took back illegal emigrants detained on the high seas, but it refused to accept Cubans detained on Mexican soil while en route to the United States.

Under Washington’s “wet foot, dry foot” policy, Cubans who reach US soil are permitted to remain and become legal residents, while the vast majority of those intercepted at sea are sent back to the island.

Havana says the US policy encourages Cubans to undertake risky voyages to Florida and, in recent years, to Mexico’s Caribbean coast.