The Cuban government considers that the repatriation of those Cubans who upon arrival in the United States are considered “inadmissible” is a “resolved” issue and assures that they are only waiting for “the proposal of the flight and the date” by Washington.
In an interview to efethe deputy director for the US of the Cuban Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Johana Tablada, affirmed that “at this moment it is for them” and that it only remains for Washington to inform them “when they are ready” to resume this bilateral mechanism.
“We are waiting for the flight proposal and the date,” he said. “The United States asked us to resume flights. Cuba has already said yes and we are waiting for them to tell us ‘that day the flight goes’”, she added.
Asked if the first flight could be the next day, she pointed out that, once the US provides the list of people it wishes to repatriate, Cuba must “simply check” if the members “classify into the categories” agreed by the two countries in 2017something for which they will need “a few days”.
The Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs of Cuba, Carlos Fernández de Cossio, assured last week, after participating in Havana in a bilateral migratory round with the US, that both governments aspired for these repatriation flights to have “regularity.”
USA: Visit to Cuba of two high-ranking officials announced to address migration issues
The return of people designated as inadmissible was agreed in 2017, but was suspended in practice shortly thereafter, with the cooling off of bilateral relations promoted by the then US President Donald Trump and the outbreak of COVID-19.
In last week’s immigration round – the second of Democrat Joe Biden’s term – participated, in addition to De Cossio and Tablada, the US Undersecretary for Western Hemisphere Affairs, Emily Mendrala.
Efe/OnCuba.
