Photo: @CubaMINREX.
Johana Tablada, deputy director-general of the United States at Cuba’s foreign ministry, said progress is being made after five years of persistent non-compliance by Washington with the migration accords with Havana.
Speaking to Radio Reloj, the diplomat recalled the unjustified closure of the US consulate in Havana over extravagant and false allegations of alleged attacks on diplomats, which even the CIA has acknowledged as untenable.
He pointed out that since 2018, after a first round of talks in Washington on the immigration issue, the United States has started issuing visas to try to meet the commitment of no fewer than 20,000 a year.
Then would come the announcement that consular assistance services for Cubans, absurdly transferred to Guyana, would return to Havana in early 2023.
Asphyxia measures continue
Tablada pointed out that Washington has met the annual visa quota, but not the one accumulated in the years it hasn’t granted them.
He explained that they only issue visas for family reunification, excluding those for non-immigrants, ie those through which more than 200,000 Cubans have traveled and returned without leaving the country permanently.
The official found it contradictory that while Washington advocates greater socio-economic investment in high-migration nations in the region, it insists on collapsing Cuba’s economy and making life harder for its people.
He also pointed to the incentives that the United States maintains for the irregular migration of Cubans and how it fails to honor the part of the agreements regarding the non-entry of persons arriving at its southern border by this route.
(With information from Radio Reloj)