Havana Cuba. – Some 5,000 Cubans have been repatriated through the port of Orozco, Mariel, during 2022. Depressed men and terrified mothers assured that they would not attempt the crossing again in front of Cuban Television cameras. But probably many will have to reoffend because they do not have the means to survive in Cuba.
The Cuban Border Guard Troops and the United States Coast Guard Service held a technical meeting to increase operational cooperation in confronting the smuggling of migrants, illegal departures, drug trafficking and maritime search and rescue operations, in Havana, on September 8 and 9.
The talks progressed within the framework of the Bilateral Commission established in August 2015 and the United States-Cuba Joint Declaration on migration issues, signed on January 12, 2017, a week before the end of Barack Obama’s presidency. The elimination of the “wet foot, dry foot” policy and the provisional admission program (parole) for Cuban health professionals in third countries were the most innovative aspects of that document.
However, the exodus of Cubans has spread from the turbulent waters of the Straits of Florida to the border between Mexico and the United States. More than 200,000 people of all ages during fiscal year 2022, which ends this month, took advantage of the elimination of the visa requirement to travel to Nicaragua and head to the southern border of the United States.
Now, the Cuban authorities are seeking that the Biden administration lift Cuba’s classification as a “country sponsor of terrorism”, eliminated by Obama, but renewed by Trump and ratified by Biden. To that end, they have managed to get the new president of Colombia, Gustavo Petro, to ask for the island’s removal from that list, arguing that Cuba is once again facilitating peace negotiations with the ELN.
Here, the inefficient economic management for 63 years, the results of the Ordering Task, imposed in January 2021, and its supposed corrections have aggravated inflation, the devaluation of wages, and other ills. The justification for all the problems with the embargo has lost credibility among the population for several years.
Most people are overwhelmed by the hunger of their children, the 12-hour-a-day blackouts, the lack of sufficient drinking water, the uncertainty about job relocation in the face of the closure of the preponderant state-owned companies due to lack of raw materials, profitability or electricity, public transport even worse than before and skyrocketing prices.
To make matters worse, it is difficult to resort to the medical assistance system because it is collapsed, and there are no medicines. Dengue is advancing rapidly throughout the country, without the government having the resources to mount a sanitation campaign similar to those of past times, when prestigious doctors were removed or punished for publicly exposing the existence of the disease.
Fleeing to the United States is seen by many as the only solution, even by relatives previously considered “revolutionaries” and “extremists.” Cuba will continue to bleed to death while the government destroys it and encourages outlets to lower social tension, achieve food and medicine supplies, and receive remittances.
OPINION ARTICLE
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