By Gustavo A Maranges on March 15, 2022, from Havana
photo: Bill Hackwell
Migration processes are among the most covered topics by news and expert analysts. It is also a central issue for the domestic policies of many countries. In the case of Latin America, this issue is extremely severe. Being the most unequal continent in the world is not just a title, but a reference to a harsh reality that directly influences the characteristics of the migratory flows, which have the United States and Canada as their final destination.
The case of Cuba is one of the most particular on the continent and has generated headlines in all regional media in the last few days because of an uptick in the number of people trying to leave both through legal means and risky illegal ways. We do not intend to analyze the causes or the possible factors that make Cuba as a unique case, but we will make a moral reflection on migration in the third world while taking Cuba as an example.
First of all, it is necessary to recognize that migration is a natural process of all animal species and humankind does not escape from this generalization. From the very beginning of our existence, we have migrated. We supposedly left Africa to go to Europe, then spread to Asia, and, from the north, we populated the American continent, so we are all, in one way or another, migrants from someplace.
The reasons as to what drove these processes were very diverse and, just as today, are related to climatic events, social conflicts, economic issues, and ethnic or cultural affinity. However, the unequal development of the world has made an indelible difference and acceleration to migration. The gap between colonies and cities and then into developed and exploited countries is an essential element as it determines the main direction of migratory flows.
Today, in a world with a well-defined international division of labor, human migrations are motivated by two fundamental issues, the economic one and the one related to national and international conflicts. There are plenty of examples of this, but it would not hurt to recall the cases of Palestine, Syria, the dozens of boats that daily cross the Mediterranean Sea from Africa to reach Europe, and the continual caravans of migrants, primarily on foot, moving through Central America headed North. All these have existed for years now and continue unabated barely appearing in the mainstream media except for now with the spotlight is the migration of 2.5 million Ukrainians displaced by the conflict between Russia and Ukraine which is a whole story by itself.
The case of Cuba is very particular since it has two conditions that distinguish it from the rest of the continent. It is the only country whose citizens are favored by U.S. immigration laws, and the only one that suffers an economic, commercial, and financial blockade that has a significant impact on Cuba’s economic development.
Cuban migratory flows have historically been economic, except for the one that occurred at the beginning of the Revolution. The Mariel crisis (1980) and the rafters’ crisis (1994) are two examples of economic migration. Currently, Cuba is facing another migratory crisis, mainly due to the harsh economic reality faced by the country as a result of the combined impact of the pandemic, the strengthening of the blockade, and the mistakes in the field of domestic economic policy.
Given this reality, it is impossible to criticize someone for migrating. Hoping for a better lifestyle can never be an element of criticism; on the contrary, it is perhaps the most legitimate of rights and instincts. However, the attitude of those who blame the Cuban economic-political system for migration misses the mark and is individualistic in thinking.
The decision of Cubans to migrate implies serious consequences for Cuba, a country that needs them to face the same problems that cause migration. The brain drain, an aged labor force, the stagnation of the society, and difficulties of fitting with new paradigms and ways of doing things are serious problems for a country going through an updating process.
There is no denying that the decision to stay to make Cuba better takes personal sacrifices. The Cuban Revolution is based on the ideal of everything for the common good and the whole design of the blockade is to crack that fundamental social contract. In this way it is clear that while much of migration is based on the economic reality in which we find ourselves, the US uses it in a political way to denigrate the social gains we have made in health and education in particular.
Source: Resumen Latinoamericano – English