MIAMI, United States. – Hundreds of Cubans who had bought air tickets to travel to Panama, or who would make a stopover in the Isthmian nation, fear losing the money invested given the inconveniences to obtain the visa that, since March 8, the island’s nationals must obtain to land in Panama.
On that date, the Panamanian government reported that it would require a transit visa from Cubans traveling to the nation or simply making a stopover there. In this way, hundreds of people who had already obtained an air ticket were forced to also obtain a visa.
“There are many people who have sold their house, who have lost everything,” he told CubaNet Kendra Rosabal, one of the Cubans in that situation. “We bought some visa-free tickets for Panama. The authorities should have respected that but now they are running over us, because it is not fair to miss a flight because of a visa that did not exist when we bought the ticket”, explained the interviewee.
Rosabal also denounced a strong police operation around the Panamanian Embassy in Havana to prevent people from gathering and protesting. “They don’t even let us go near the Embassy, which is full of police,” he said.
On March 25, the Embassy of Panama in Havana announced a new appointment system to apply for a transit visa. “Due to the large number of transit visa applications received at the Panamanian Consulate in Cuba, and in order to provide a better service, a prior appointment system is established for receiving transit visa applications,” indicated the diplomatic headquarters on their Facebook page.
However, the same Rosabal that dozens of Cubans on social networks denounce that the web page that interested parties must access to get an appointment “is closed the entire week.”
“It opens one day and they leave it open for only five minutes and they close it, so who is going to be able to get an appointment?” the woman asks.
On March 9, one day after Panama’s announcement of the transit visa requirement for Cubans, hundreds of people gathered at the diplomatic headquarters of that country – located at 5ta. Avenue and 24th Street, in Miramar― in Havana.
Cuban journalist Mario J. Pentón, who posted on Twitter a video of the crowd outside the diplomatic headquarters, said that the scene reflected “the serious migration crisis created after Nicaragua’s decision to open its borders to Cubans.”
On the same day the official portal Cubadebateblamed the migratory policy of the United States towards the Island for the events occurred before the diplomatic headquarters.
“This fact and others that have occurred recently confirm the growing politicization of the migratory issue by the United States, whose authorities have not complied with the 1984 and 1994 migratory agreements that establish the delivery of no less than 20,000 annual visas for Cuban citizens. “, he pointed Cubadebate.
“The only thing they know how to say [las autoridades cubanas] it is that it is the fault of the United States, when they have nothing to do with it,” Rosabal assured this Saturday.
The woman also denounced that appointments to the Consulate are being sold for $450, information that CubaNet could not independently verify.
“Even if you have an appointment with the Embassy, you are not sure if you will be able to travel because when they do not deny you a visa, the lists [donde son informadas las visas concedidas] They don’t arrive on time,” the woman finished.
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