A Policy Difficult to Understand

A Policy Difficult to Understand / Fernando Damaso
Posted on December 18, 2015

One of the demands the Cuban government is making of its American
counterpart as part of the normalization of relations is the repeal of
the Cuban Adjustment Act and an end to the preferential treatment
professionals who leave the island receive under the so-called wet foot,
dry foot policy.

The recent stampede to Ecuador and the arrival of massive numbers of
Cuban emigres in Costa Rica are being used — with the help of the
Nicaraguan government, which is prohibiting their passage through its
territory — in an effort to pressure the U.S. government.

The situation is complicated by the arrival of hundreds of Cuban
migrants in Panama and the announcement by U.S authorities that they
have no intention of modifying either the Adjustment Act or their
immigration policy. The Cuban government has not given up and, by
putting pressure on other governments in the region, has succeeded in
preventing the authorized flow of migrants toward their ultimate
destination: the United States.

This has created a tense situation, both in Costa Rica as well as in
Panama, where there are currently more than six-thousand stranded
Cubans. The island's authorities are acting as they have no direct
responsibility for a situation in which they are in fact the party most
responsible.

Though billed as a visit to discuss economic and political issues, the
recent trip by the president of Costa Rica to Cuba was part of an effort
to find a solution to the problem. Return of the migrants to their home
country is not an option. Not only do they no longer have anything
there, but they have no desire to return, as they have repeatedly made
clear. This is perhaps the most dramatic aspect of the problem.

An objective analysis would indicate the chief beneficiary of this wave
of emigration to in fact be the Cuban government. The departure of
citizens who have no interest in being part of the socialist experiment
relieves social pressure.

At the same time, more Cubans in the United States means more
remittances to family members on the island, which ultimately end up in
the hands of the state. This is a win-win for the government, even with
the loss of dollars it would have received by renting out the services
of its health care professionals, many of whom have themselves become
emigres.

The policies of the island's authorities are often difficult to understand.

14 December 2015

Source: A Policy Difficult to Understand / Fernando Damaso | Translating
Cuba -
http://translatingcuba.com/a-policy-difficult-to-understand-fernando-damaso/