By Gustavo A Maranges on April 21, 2022 from Havana
“ US migration policy is incoherent and differentiated”. Josefina Vidal, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of Cuba
As a Cuban sometimes you get tired of listening to news about the US because it is an everyday stream of issues mostly related to bad things. We get used to the ups and downs while you are always wondering why do they want to make us suffer so much? What did my grandma do to any American or the US government? What did my father do to them? Why does my seven-year-old niece have put up with the hate she is not even aware of? Answers to these questions can be painful and upsetting.
Migration is one of those heartbreaking issues for Cubans. Over two million Cubans currently live in the US and most of them still have relatives on the island. However, the US government does everything in its power to hinder the normal relationship between those split families with a growing evilness and cruelty.
First, they randomly denied tourist visas even to people to come visit their relatives. Then, they delayed the family reunification processes to unreasonable levels, and finally, they closed the consulate and moved its visa operation to the most complicated destination possible. But the story does not end there.
On April 19, the Cuban government announced a new meeting to discuss migratory issues with the United States government. The news comes amid a tense situation for both sides. The US is dealing with an increasing number of migrants reaching its southern border, which has practically become the only way for Cubans to get to the country. This situation has quickly worsened since the US closed its consulate in Havana in 2018, and tightened the blockade over the island. In February of this year 16,600 Cubans showed up at the US southern border and another 32,000 in March according to Citizen Information Services.
This situation is hard for Cubans, most of who would like to migrate legally but are now subject to shady trafficking, mafia blackmailing, kidnappings, and can even lose their lives in the journey. On top of this, the country and its population suffer demographic and economic consequences from this high emigration flow of people leaving who are trained in our world class education system.
The meeting took place today but the agenda and the final outcome has not been made public yet. Emily Mendrala has been appointed by the Biden administration to head the US delegation, while Cuba’s team is being led by Deputy Foreign Affairs Minister Carlos Fernandez de Cossio. The last time officials from both sides held this kind of meeting was in July 2018, which means 4 years of silence on something so crucial. Trump’s policy towards Cuba, which is strongly linked to the most conservative groups from Florida, is one of the main roots of the current situation that has been willingly carried forward by the Biden Administration despite campaign promises to the contrary.
Cuba has been advocating for months for the talks to be restored as a way to guarantee a safe, orderly, and legal migration between both countries, but the US has not been interested in a solution until now. They would rather keep strangling Cuba, tarnish our image, while looking for a final collapse; but that has backfired on them once again.
US sanctions have squeezed Cuba’s economy, forcing many people to leave the country (generally using illegal ways) looking for better living conditions. At the same time, Biden has followed Trump’s hard-line toward the island, disregarding his campaign commitments. There has not been a single high-level exchange, the rhetoric is still the same, sanctions are still in place, and the Embassy and the consulate are working at a bare minimum.
It is evident that much of the responsibility for this situation comes from the US. As Cuban Deputy Foreign Affairs Minister Josefina Vidal stated: “There is a historical regularity with how these dramatic migratory peaks occur when the U.S. fails to comply with agreements, increases sanctions or puts obstacles to a more or less normal processing of visas.” She went on to describe US migration policy in general as being “incoherent and differentiated.”
The last of these peaks came during the “rafters’ crisis” in 1994, which ended after the Clinton Administration agreed to issuing 20,000 immigration visas per year. Nevertheless, the US has not to complied, or come anywhere near that figure for the last 5 years.
The US migratory policy towards Cuba is full of contradictions. Biden administration is worried about the growing number of Cubans arriving at the southern border, but it has not moved a finger or said a single word about the “Cuban Adjustment Act”, which is the main incentive for Cubans to go to the northern country. It wants an ordered migration but refuses to fully reopen the consulate and speed the family reunification process. On the other hand, they want Cubans to stay on the island, but they are too seduced by using migration waves for their political purposes, and to expand the idea of “people fleeing a communist regime”. It is confusing to see how the US is investing and cooperating with Latin American countries to avoid more migratory waves, but it is doing exactly the opposite with Cuba. As long as the policy towards Cuba remains hostage to a small group of Floridan politicians, this situation will remain the same.
Today, this small group is desperately screaming because they were not invited to the talks, which can be interpreted under the logic “if you are not part of the solution, you are part of the problem.” But why are they so hysterical?
The truth is that politicians like Senator Marco Rubio and Congress members like Maria Elvira Salazar, Mario Diaz-Balart, and Carlos Jimenes are not the least bit interested in Cubans and Cuban-Americans’ well being. Their only allegiance is to the multi million dollar industry in Southern Florida whose only goal is to destroy the Cuban Revolution regardless of who has to suffer or die along the way.
Today’s meeting offers a glimmer of hope but the onus is on the US side. Extortion, threats, and pressure have proven to be useless against Cuba. As is always the case dialogue is the only way to settle the differences among sovereign nations. Biden should not waste the opportunity to change and show the world that US foreign policy towards Cuba is not up to Floridan politicians, but a matter of an entire country with over 300 million people. You would think he would honor his campaign promises but sadly there is no accountability in US politics when it comes to what a candidate says to get elected. He should rule for the sake of everybody, especially those who believed him during his campaign. We will revisit the outcome of the meeting and hope that there was at least an ounce of humanity on the table from the US side during the talks.
Source: Resumen Latinoamericano – English