Travel and Emigration Reform?

Travel and Emigration Reform? / Fernando Damaso
Fernando Damaso, Translator: Unstated

The recently announced and often proposed travel/emigration reform act
finally appeared in the Official Gazette and, as you might guess, simply
amounts to a reshuffling of the same restrictions along with some new
ones. Its additional procedures are designed to "make changes so that
everything stays the same" and to keep extracting hard currency from
Cubans both inside and outside the country.

The "white card," or exit permit, has been eliminated and its
restrictions will now be applied to the passport, which will only be
issued to those citizens who fulfill a long list of requirements or whom
the state deems worthy. Its price will increase from 55 CUC to 100 CUC.
It will extend to twenty-four months the time one can remain outside the
country without being considered an emigrant. Cubans living in other
countries and with other nationalities are still required to have a
Cuban passport to visit Cuba, and it does not recognize dual
citizenship, as is common in other democratic countries in the world. It
also introduces a 150 CUC emigration processing fee for people living
overseas and 100 CUC fee for those who decide to reside in Cuba.

As you might imagine, although there are still no guidelines or
regulations regarding the practical application of the law, it is a bit
like the saying, "You can flip the omelet over, but it's the same on the
other side." Or to put it another way, "It's the same dog but with a
different collar." It is now understandable why they needed so much time
to craft this travel/emigration straitjacket.

Those who expected real change, and serious travel/emigration reform as
a result, were left still wishing, and also, with the frustration of
feeling tricked. It seems that the majority of Cubans still do not
understand it is only possible to expect more of the same from the
current authorities and never anything really new or different.
Dogmatism, schematicism, and conservatism seem to be their guidelines
and they never deviate from them: they have yielded powerful results for
half a century, and they will not finally change now. The approved
emigration reform constitutes a mockery of the wishes of the citizens,
who every day demand real changes. May it serve as a lesson to so many
naive ones!

October 20 2012

http://translatingcuba.com/travel-and-emigration-reform-fernando-damaso/