Since the rise of the Fidel Castro in 1959, millions of Cuban citizens have tried to illegally gain entrance to the United States, seeking refuge from the regime. Many of these people have attempted to enter the US using makeshift rafts to travel the treacherous 332 miles of water between Cuba and Miami. A great many have died along the way.

The emigrations reached a fever pitch in 1994 when Castro heightened restrictions on leaving, and the US Coastguard intercepted more than 31,000 Cubans during August and September of that year. Yet large numbers of exiles were not discovered and successfully made it Miami. Many of them still live in the city to this day.

Now, 20 years after one of the largest influxes of Cubans to the US ever, Reuters photographer Enrique de la Osa visited Miami and tracked down many of those refugees, photographing them and seeing what became of them after their perilous journeys.

(Captions by Christian Storm and Reuters)