HAVANA (Reuters) – Cuban Miguel Palenzuela, 52, and his spouse Ania have been ready for a month exterior Colombia’s embassy in Havana in hopes of securing a visa to travel by way of the South American nation.
Palenzuela, who commutes nearly day by day from Guanabacoa, exterior the capital, says he would favor an appointment however the web site crashes. Other embassies are as unhealthy or worse, he says.
“There are too many limitations,” Palenzuela says, shaded from the summer time Caribbean solar beneath a mango tree. “It’s as if they do not need us Cubans to travel.”
The Colombian embassy informed Reuters its programs had been swamped by the “giant quantity” of candidates, and stated the nation’s upcoming presidential elections had additionally slowed service.
Reuters this week spoke with almost two dozen folks ready in traces exterior the embassies of Colombia, Mexico, and Panama, nations usually used as jumping-off factors for irregular migration north to the United States.
The Cubans Reuters spoke with both declined to elaborate on the explanation for their travels or stated they have been procuring or touring for tourism.
But all expressed frustration as diplomatic and bureaucratic bottlenecks at dwelling and overseas develop for Cubans seeking to go away the island amid a rising financial disaster.
Over 140,000 Cubans have been encountered by authorities on the U.S. border with Mexico since October, U.S. figures present, among the many largest migrations off the island in many years.
Cuba blames the United States for priming the pump of unlawful migration by sustaining a Cold War-era financial embargo whereas chopping off consular providers in Havana for Cubans.
The United States final week agreed to facilitate “authorized pathways” for migrants on the Summit of the Americas, which excluded Cuban authorities representatives. Washington resumed visa processing in Havana in May and goals to concern 20,000 immigrant visas to Cubans a yr.
It’s a crack within the door, however nonetheless falls brief, stated Michael Bustamante on the University of Miami.
“We ought to welcome the long-awaited restoration of consular providers on the U.S. embassy in Havana,” he stated. “But in contrast to the demand, 20,000 … looks as if a drop within the bucket.”
POLITICS ASIDE
Outside the embassies of a number of Latin American nations in Havana, the diplomatic discourse of latest months is misplaced in a haze of warmth, lengthy traces and fast-changing necessities.
With choices for authorized migration by way of the United States restricted, many decide to fly to Nicaragua, which in November lifted visa necessities for Cubans, then attempt their luck on the dangerous overland route north to the U.S. border.
Soaring prices, nonetheless, have led many to search alternate flights by way of Panama, Colombia and Costa Rica, amongst others.
A spread of visa necessities, previous and new, in these nations has led to confusion and frustration, stated Yaneris Betancourt, 37, who traveled greater than 4 hours on public transport from Matanzas, exterior Havana, for her appointment at Panama’s embassy.
Betancourt stated she too had struggled to navigate embassy web sites – Cubans usually have entry to the web solely by telephone with spotty protection – and missed two flights due to the delays.
And most just lately, a Cuban Central Bank measure prompted some embassies to quickly halt providers or cost for visas in {dollars} or euros, foreign exchange out there to Cubans primarily through remittances or the black market.
“Many folks have had to drop all the pieces as a result of they’ve not had the power to proceed,” Betancourt stated on Monday as she waited in a park close to the embassy with greater than 75 others.
Outside the U.S. Embassy in Havana, the one authorized avenue out there on-island for migration to the United States, the scene was comparatively tranquil.
Odanis Gonzalez on Wednesday sat quietly on a park bench, ready together with her daughter to enter the embassy. She stated the U.S. choice to restart consular providers on the island was one of the simplest ways ahead.
“We ought to all have the best to this path, the right one,” she stated, “and never have to threat our lives.”
(Reporting by Dave Sherwood; Additional reporting by Nelson Acosta and Reuters TV; Editing by Dave Graham)
