The Government of the United States revealed this Tuesday that it has asked Cuba to accept the Cubans who deport from US territory in exchange for progress in the processing of visas.
A high-ranking US administration official said in a call with reporters that last week’s immigration talks in Washington between the two sides were “productive.” “I think it’s the beginning of a good dialogue,” she considered.
He indicated that the U.S. delegation asked the Cuban delegation to return to the 2017 migration agreement by which Cuba received the Cubans deported by the United States, studying “case by case,” in exchange for Washington advancing in the visa processing process “outside of Havana”.
The US Immigration and Customs Enforcement Service (ICE) had recently denounced that the Island has not accepted any deportation of Cubans since last October through commercial or charter flights from US territory.
For its part, Cuba accuses the United States of breaching its commitment to issue in Havana “no less than 20,000 annual visas to Cubans” to emigrate to the North American country, as agreed in 2017, an issue raised again at the meeting last Thursday.
The US “has encouraged” Nicaragua to help address this phenomenon through “visa policies”
This figure, according to Havana, has not been met since the US reduced the activity of its embassy on the island after the “health incidents” known as “Havana syndrome”, whose origin remains unclear.
On the other hand, the US official indicated that the Government of her country “has encouraged” Nicaragua, where “a large number” of Cubans pass through on their journey north, to help the US address this phenomenon through “visa policies”, without providing further details.
The Central American country is the springboard of the current migratory exodus since, on November 30, the Díaz-Canel regime agreed with Daniel Ortega on the “free visa” for Cubans.
The United States and Cuba resumed this Thursday in Washington, in the midst of mutual misgivings and suspicions, their bilateral dialogue on migration issues, the first at a high level since the arrival of President Joe Biden to the White House.
These meetings had been suspended in 2018 during the Presidency of Donald Trump (2017-2021), who reversed the historic rapprochement process with the island launched by his predecessor, Barack Obama (2009-2017).
This Monday, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Bruno Rodríguez, offered a press conference without questions in which he complained that the Joe Biden government has excluded his country from the preparations for the ninth Summit of the Americas, to be held in June in Los Angeles. Similarly, he blamed the United States for the current migration crisis, for offering “incentives” to Cubans.
Hours later, the US clarified that has not yet sent the invitations for the Summitalthough it has not yet ruled out whether there will be countries that are left out.
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