The American embassy in Havana resumed Wednesday the total issuance of visas for Cubans wishing to settle in the United States, in a context of record exodus to this country, but without taking shape a “normalization” of relations with communist island.
“It was very quick, I now have to pick up my visa and I can travel,” rejoices at the exit of the embassy Melissa Vazquez, 18 years old. After “seven years” of waiting, she now hopes to find her father who lives in the United States.
“It’s favorable for all Cubans who are going to travel, of course,” welcomes Eduardo Gonzalez. This 49-year-old craftsman had seen his family reunification procedure interrupted in 2017 when the consulate closed for alleged health incidents affecting diplomats.
“I still had to provide a document” and “I don’t know if I will be given a favorable outcome,” he told Agence France-Presse (AFP), moderately optimistic, before his appointment.
The American embassy announced in March the reopening of its consulate. This announcement was followed by several high-level meetings, first in Washington and then in Havana, with the aim of reactivating the migration agreements between the two countries interrupted under the government of Donald Trump (2017-2021).
In May, the consulate thus resumed in a “limited” way the issuance of visas for Cubans wishing to emigrate, then the embassy announced a total resumption of procedures, except for tourist visas, in January 2023 to “ensure safe emigration, lawful and orderly.
Since 2017, Cubans wishing to obtain a visa for the United States have faced a veritable obstacle course, with the obligation to apply, at their own expense, in a third country – generally Guyana.
“It’s a good sign that the governments of the two countries are talking to each other on how to manage migratory flows in an orderly and rational way”, analyzes for AFP Michael Shifter, of Georgetown University in Washington.
But these conversations “have been limited to migration issues, especially in the context of the serious migration crisis,” said Jorge Duany, Cuba specialist at Florida International University.
“Minimal Changes”
Hit by a serious economic crisis, Cuba is experiencing an unprecedented exodus. Since the end of 2021, many Cubans have taken advantage of the visa exemption in Nicaragua, an ally of Havana, to then try to reach the United States through Central America.
Since December 1, 2021 and up to the beginning of December 2022, US authorities have made 277,594 arrests of Cubans attempting to enter the United States illegally. Illegal emigration by sea has also skyrocketed in recent months.
The Cuban government has acknowledged that Washington granted in 2022, for the first time since 2017, more than 20,000 visas to Cubans wishing to settle in the United States, as provided for in agreements dating from 1994.
But, even if Washington “does not want to recognize it, there is a direct link between the resurgence of extreme measures against the Cuban economy and the dramatic migratory flow which has exploded”, insisted in November to AFP Johana Tablada, senior official of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
If certain sanctions imposed under Donald Trump have been relaxed by his successor Joe Biden, the Democrat is careful for the moment to relaunch the policy of rapprochement launched by Barack Obama (2009-2017).
Upon arriving at the White House in 2021, Mr. Biden promised to review US policy toward Cuba, but his rhetoric hardened after anti-government protests on the island in July 2021. In December, he called a once again to the release of “hundreds of political prisoners” arrested during the demonstrations.
Washington also kept Cuba on the list of countries sponsoring terrorism and recently included it in another list of countries that violate religious freedom.
“Mr. Biden is trying to recalibrate his policy toward Cuba, charting a middle course between Trump’s ‘maximum pressure’ and Obama’s ‘approach’, but for now changes in US policy toward the island have been minimal,” said Mr. Duany.
“For the moment, there are no conditions to move towards a normalization of relations”, abounds Michael Shifter.