Three weeks after ad-generated chaos that the Embassy of Panama would begin to demand transit visas from Cubans, hundreds of people gather again in the place.
As happened in those days, the surroundings are guarded this Wednesday by a strong police operation, this time much broader. 7th Street, for example, is fenced off and does not allow pedestrians or vehicles to pass, and both uniformed and civilian agents guard block by block.
The main affected were those who had requested the procedure but had not been called despite their imminent trip, and many even carried their suitcases. Witnesses refer to 14ymedio that the same ruckus was formed yesterday.
“Supposedly they called us from a landline at the embassy asking us to come pick up the visa, but we didn’t trust it,” a woman who had to change her ticket for the Copa airline, which travels to Managua with a stopover in Panama, explained to this newspaper. – three times since January. Another affected said that, so far, she has lost 800 dollars for canceling her tickets. “There are people from all over the country here,” she said.
Panama’s decision to establish a transit visa for Cubans, announced on March 8caused strong protests among those who already had their ticket purchased and could not change it unless they lost their money.
After three days planted in front of the Panamanian consulate in Havana, hundreds of those affected succeeded in exempting those traveling until March 16. However, those who would do it between that day and the 30th, would have to reschedule their flight, assured the officials who attended the crowd. The cost of the visa is 50 dollars and gives the right to stay 24 hours in transit.
All those who traveled after March 31 would have no problem, provided that, they warned, they submitted their request at least 15 business days before the departure of their flight.
So did those who waited this Wednesday, but many of them were not called. One of the State Security agents, dressed in civilian clothes, in charge of reading the list, asserted that whoever was not on it was “because it was not approved.”
The list was read in a place away from the embassy, about seven blocks away, on Calle 26 between 31 A and 33. The lucky ones entered the diplomatic headquarters; those who didn’t bit their nails, longing to hear their names at the next one.
“But what am I going to do? At what time am I going to go home to travel tomorrow?” a woman living in Pinar del Río cried out to one of the police officers who controlled the situation. “We don’t want problems with you, what we want is for you to understand us,” the woman continued, to which the agent replied rudely: “You won’t have any problems with us, because at the slightest problem you have, We loaded her up and took her away.”
The woman lashed out: “Did you see that we can’t even speak, or claim any rights, because right away they charge us and take us away?”, and another affected woman seconded, replying to the police: “You’re going to have to take everyone we are here, look for the truck, because no one is going to leave here”.
Without another word, the officer took this woman, who never returned to the crowd.
The crowd also begins to cause strong complaints among the neighbors, inhabitants of one of the most affluent neighborhoods of the capital, where there are mansions expropriated from wealthy families after the Revolution.
One of these neighbors left her house and asked the Police to disperse the crowd, not without clarifying that she was “also affected”, that “she had a ticket” for next month, but that she did not want “that tumult” in your door.
On the other hand, given the huge number of requests from Cubans who use Panama as a stopover to another country, mainly Nicaragua, the embassy announced The last friday the implementation of a new system to request an appointment for the transit visa.
However, and it was another complaint this Wednesday among those planted in front of the diplomatic headquarters, the website did not can be opened from Cuba.
In any case, the Panamanian Consulate warned in a post informative, only people with confirmed tickets between next April 15 and 21 could fill out the form enabled, and that those with subsequent flights had to wait. “Once you fill out the form, you will receive an email confirming her information and later a second email with the date of her appointment,” they reported.
That same Friday, reported CyberCuba, there have already been protests over the new system. “The new one is that they give you a date for an electronic appointment and they only take 500 people. Those who can’t go have to reschedule again,” declared an affected person to that independent newspaper, which confirmed that this Monday, when the diplomatic headquarters opened their website to provide the new service, they received the first 500 registrations in one hour.
An official then explained to those gathered that the Panamanian Consulate would only attend to a hundred cases a day. The number of people gathered this Wednesday almost quadruples that figure.
Although most understood the reason for the situation – a consequence of the massive exodus caused by the Daniel Ortega regime, in collusion with Havana, of not requesting visas from Cubans in its territory – some offered extravagant explanations.
The fault lay, said a young woman in her 30s, with the United States government, “which is pressuring them not to let people out.” Another affected man, about 50 years old, cried out: “You have to do something, expel the Panamanian ambassador!” Diaz-Canel from office”.
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