At least between 9,000 and 10,000 Cuban migrants living in Uruguay could remain undocumented due to a request from that country’s authorities, local newspaper El Observador reported.
A large proportion of these Cubans arrived in Uruguay a few years ago and applied for refuge without being able to prove persecution. Then they gave up that application and now have to apply for a visa for a regular stay within the borders. But to get this visa The government began requiring entry and exit stamps from Brazil to prove regular transit. And that requirement — to which authorities have turned a blind eye, according to El Observador — puts Cubans in limbo.
“Our most conservative calculation suggests that between 9,000 and 10,000 Cubans living in Uruguay could remain in this limbo.“, irregularly, due to the new requirements” for access to the visa to enter the country, said Alberto Gianotti, founder of the Migrant Support Network (RAM).
This body brings together the civil organizations working in Uruguay to defend and promote the rights of migrants. The RAM learned of these “bureaucratic hurdles” at the end of March, when the number of Cubans who had no opportunity to legalize their status began to accumulate.
Two months earlier, consulates at the border had been instructed to require transit stamps through Brazil prior to formal entry into Uruguay. Why is the problem centered on Cubans? Uruguay requires an entry visa for Cuban citizens, and Cuba requires one for Uruguayans. This “rule” of reciprocity is the main diplomatic argument for keeping the visa in force.
When the emigration route from the island to Uruguay began seven years ago, The Cubans found an alternative: they entered South America, where no visa is required, via Guyana, passed through Brazil without immigration controls, and applied for refuge at the Uruguayan border. This gives them access to the temporary residence documents that allow them access to health care, education and formal employment while their case is being processed. However, since their cases do not apply for refugee status – a protection that is granted only when there is a risk of death or human rights violations – they have to forego this procedure and regulate their situation.
At that time, the Cubans made an appointment at the Uruguayan consulates on the border with Brazil and set off to process the entry visa. Then, like in a pantomime, they entered the country with their new documents.
But since this year A new requirement was added, a criterion that was fundamental in theory but not required to facilitate the process: the stamps proving that the person is from Brazil and not someone who entered the country without papers. In addition, the pandemic caused delays in the state bureaucracy and thousands of applications piled up.
Eduardo Mata, national director for migration, acknowledged to El Observador “that this issue is being worked on”, but declined to answer why Uruguay began requiring the Brazilian stamps (a requirement that is “unworkable” and means would that the Brazilian consulates would end up legalizing a Uruguayan challenge unfamiliar to them).
A source at the Uruguayan Ministry of Foreign Affairs told El Observador that “the intent is to find a substantive solution and make immigration as regular as possible.” The Uruguayan government is not prepared to abolish the visa, as organized civil society claims. “We are fighting for visa abolition: not only to solve the underlying problem, but also to prevent migrants from relying on trafficking networks and organized crime to get to Uruguay,” explains Gianotti.
Cuban migrants remain stranded in Mexico
migrants Cubans residing in Mexico face new obstacles to get to the United Statesas reported by the US television station 23.
“We have been opting for the CBP One application for more than two months. It’s frustrating to get this application,” said a Cuban stranded in the city of Reynosa, Tamaulipas state. “Every day in the morning when I enter the application, it freezes. She won’t let me in, the schedule won’t appear. Nothing is displayed. When I try, he tells me that there are no capacities because we are my wife and my girl,” said another migrant identified as Jorge by the above source.
In the city of Matamoros live two young same-sex Cubans who are married and were sent back from the United States. When they crossed the border, they were not treated as a family unit. “With this new update (of the application), sometimes it doesn’t work for me in the morning. I make my appointment and the application still has not given me an answer. “We were in Tapachula, where we were discriminated against by the police because of our homosexuality,” said one of the couples from a rural area in Mexico.
Cuban rafters repatriated by the US
The US Coast Guard (USCG) turned back a group of 42 irregular Cuban migrants on Mondayabout the port of Orozco, in Bahía Honda, Artemisa, reported the official Cubadebate website.
The group consisted of 35 men and seven women who were involved in several illegal exits from the country and were intercepted at sea by the USCG.
Two of the returnees were handed over to the investigating authorities because of suspected perpetration serious. They were already under investigation before they got involved in these illegal excursions.
Two other individuals were on probation to serve criminal penalties at the time of illegally leaving the country and will be made available to the courts to have those benefits revoked.
So far this year, 3,809 Cubans have been repatriated from countries in the region in 73 sorties.
The USCG, for its part, reported On twitter on the activities of their crews during the week of May 5-12. “The gangs have stopped eight different illegal businesses involving more than 250 migrants in total. The US maritime borders are not open. Don’t go to the sea,” the Maritime Safety Authority said.
Of the 257 migrants arrested during this period, 50 were returned to Cuba, 189 to Haiti and 18 to the Bahamas.