MIAMI, United States. — In the midst of the migration crisis that Cuba is suffering, the largest in its history, the Cuban regime announced new regulations for the issuance of passports for minors.
According to the digital portal CyberCubathe new measures were included in the Instruction 279/2023 of the People’s Supreme Court, which was published in the Official Gazette No. 28 Extraordinary of April 17, 2023.
With the supposed objective of guaranteeing the protection and safety of minors in accordance with the provisions of the Family Code, —approved in a popular referendum in September of last year—, parents must offer to the Island authorities “ the address of the domicile where the minor person will remain and the one to whom the authorization is granted.
Parents or guardians must also ensure “that the minor person will have a legal status that guarantees the full enjoyment of their rights, in cases in which the departure is made with the intention of remaining in another State.”
In addition, “the travel destination of the underage person and the term in which they must return to the national territory, if it is a temporary exit” must be informed.
The trip must be “safe to the interests of the minor person; For this purpose, they must delve into their current situation, form a conviction about the living conditions that they will have abroad, both the person and the parent, legal representative or the people who will take care of them outside the national territory.
In recent months, applications for passports in Cuba have skyrocketed, which has generated long lines and crowds at passport and paperwork offices in Cuba.
From 2021 to date, entire families have left the Caribbean country with the aim of reaching —via Nicaragua— the southern border of the United States.
figures of the United States Customs and Border Protection (US Customs and Border Protection, for its acronym in English), indicate that during fiscal year 2022 and so far in 2023, 2,124 “unaccompanied” minors of Cuban nationality have arrived at the southern border of the northern country, as well as another seven who arrived with tutors.
