HAVANA, Jan 5 (NNN-PRENSA LATINA) — Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodríguez considered the full immigrant resumption of visa processing at the US embassy in Havana as a necessary and correct step.
The Cuban foreign minister pointed out on Twitter this immigrant visa processing resumption does not include non-immigrant visas, which hinders family visits, cultural, sports and scientific events, “Cuba remains open to.”
In another tweet, Rodríguez stressed that as long as the hostile US blockade continues the pressure measures and the US-Mexico border privileged treatment, “it will be so hard to considerably mitigate the irregular migration flow.”
The U.S. embassy in Havana informed past November that the immigrant visa processing would be resumed in Cuba on this date.
Five years after it was closed due to mysterious “sonic attacks” on diplomatic staff, the US consulate in Havana resumes full immigrant visa services for Cubans on Wednesday.
The reopening comes amid a record exodus from the communist island to the United States, mainly by undocumented migrants, as Cuba suffers its worst economic crisis in 30 years.
“The United States is working to ensure safe, legal, and orderly migration of Cubans by expanding consular operations in Havana and restarting the Cuban Family Reunification Parole Program (CFRP),” the embassy said in a statement last week.
The consulate would open fully for “immigrant visa processing,” though tourist visas remain off limits for now.
Last year, Washington gave more than 20,000 visas to Cuban nationals — the first time since 2017 that it complied with a provision under a 1994 bilateral agreement to issue this number every year.
More than 326,300 Cubans — some 2.9 percent of the country’s population of 11.2 million — entered the United States illegally in the 12 months from December 2021, according to American authorities. — NNN-PRENSA LATINA
