The Embassy of Mexico In Cuba, it opened 16,000 new appointments to carry out consular procedures, responding to the growing demand for visas in the Caribbean country, in many cases by potential migrants.
The legation announced on its Twitter account that the appointments, scheduled for between May and December 2022, are part of the improvements implemented to consular activity in Havana.
The embassy also released a statement from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (SRE) that explains that the changes are aimed at “expanding the availability of appointments, making their allocation transparent and eliminating intermediaries or managers.”
Improvements to the Dating Cuba system! https://t.co/wFQIy8vDHG pic.twitter.com/Xw3MXgLlpy
— EmbaMex Cuba (@EmbaMexCuba) April 23, 2022
Criticism and complaints from citizens of the island have appeared in independent Cuban media and on social networks, who have expressed their displeasure at not being able to make appointments for procedures at the Mexican embassy in the Cuban capital and have even denounced alleged irregularities.
The SRE pointed out that the appointments are “free, personal and non-transferable” and that they will be assigned automatically according to the order in which they are requested on the website citascuba.sre.gob.mx until their availability is exhausted.
In addition, he indicated that in order to improve the availability of services at his Embassy in Havana, he will assign additional personnel to the documentation department and soon the hours of service to the public will be extended.
For some time now, the number of Cubans who travel to Mexico in order to buy products and basic items for resale or personal consumption on the island has increased.
Cuba is going through a serious economic crisis, with problems of scarcity and inflation, due to the impact of the pandemic, the tightening of US sanctions and failures in national macroeconomic management.
Others see the trip to Mexico as the first step to emigrate to the United States, as thousands of Cubans have been trying to do in recent months, primarily due to the economic situation.
According to US immigration authorities, some 47,331 Cuban migrants entered the US between October and February, after a record number of 16,657 arrived at the border in February alone.
