The Joe Biden government will announce this week the resumption of consular services at the United States Embassy in Havana. As reported by the Reuters agency on Tuesday with a source in two people familiar with the matter, there is “a plan to increase its limited staff” at the diplomatic headquarters, and it will “restore the processing of visas for Cubans that had largely been suspended in recent years.
Although they have not reported the agenda, the US charge d’affaires on the island, Timothy Zuniga-Brown, has called this Thursday at 3:00 pm Havana time, a press conference at his residence, at the Accredited foreign correspondents and reporters from various independent media are invited.
Reuters points out that the “deployment of additional consular representatives in Havana” is the result of Biden’s year-long review of Cuba policy and that this situation “would mark an initial phase of relaxation of the strict visa limits imposed under the mandate of the former president, Donald Trump.
The United States substantially reduced the staff of its embassy in Cuba in 2017, after some thirty US diplomats suffered mysterious health incidents known as “Havana syndrome” and whose reasons have not yet been clarified.
Sources from the State Department explain that they want to find a mechanism to carry out the physical examination without this being a source of large income for the regime.
This reduction halted almost all visa processing for Cubans seeking to emigrate or travel to the United States to reunite with their families. Former President Donald Trump (2017-2021) then accused the Cuban government of being responsible for what the US authorities described as “acoustic” or “sonic” attacks, which served as a pretext for the then president to break the diplomatic thaw with the Island started under his predecessor, Barack Obama.
The sources of the British agency did not specify how many representatives would be added or the date of their arrival on the island, but they assured that they will focus on the “enormous backlog” in visa applications that have remained unanswered for so long.
Visa processing for Cubans had been moved to the US embassy in Guyana, where few Cubans could afford to travel.
State Department sources explained to 14ymedio that one of the most delicate issues for the full reestablishment of services is to find a mechanism to carry out the physical examination – which is required to obtain an immigrant visa – through the Cuban hospital system, but without this being a source of large income for the regime.
Prospective migrants over the age of 15 must present a general medical examination consisting of a chest X-ray, a blood test, and a urine test. Before the closure of the consular services in Havana, this check-up was paid to the island’s authorities in freely convertible currency and at a price of more than 400 dollars per person.
________________________
Collaborate with our work:
The team of 14ymedio is committed to doing serious journalism that reflects the reality of deep Cuba. Thank you for joining us on this long road. We invite you to continue supporting us, but this time becoming a member of our journal. Together we can continue transforming journalism in Cuba.
