The content of the Cuba-US dialogue is revealed: Washington made an offer to Havana in exchange for retaking visas
HAVANA, April 27th The United States government revealed on Tuesday that it had asked Havana to accept the Cubans who sport from US territory in exchange for advancing in the processing of visas
A high-ranking US administration official said in a call with reporters that last week’s immigration talks in Washington between the two sides were “productive.”
“I think it’s the beginning of a good dialogue,” he considered, quoted by EFE.
The official stated that the US delegation asked the Cuban to return to the 2017 migration agreement by which Cuba received the Cubans deported by the US, studying “case by case”, in exchange for Washington advancing in the process of processing visas “outside of Havana”.
The US Immigration and Customs Enforcement Service (ICE) recently denounced that the island’s authorities have not accepted any deportation of Cubans since last October by commercial or charter flights from US territory.
For its part, The Government of Cuba accuses the United States of not fulfilling its commitment to issue in Havana “no less than 20,000 annual visas to Cubans” to emigrate to the North American country, as agreed in 2017, an issue that he would have raised again at last Thursday’s meeting.
This figure, according to Havana, has not been met since the US reduced the activity of its Embassy on the island after the “health incidents” known as “Havana syndrome”, whose origin remains unclear.
On the other hand, the US official indicated that the Government of her country “has encouraged” Nicaraguathrough which “a large number” of Cubans pass on their journey north, to help the US address this phenomenon through “visa policies” without offering further details.
The governments of the United States and Cuba resumed on Thursday in Washington, in the midst of mutual distrust and suspicion, their bilateral dialogue on migration issues, the first at a high level since the arrival of President Joe Biden to the White House.
These meetings had been suspended in 2018 during the Presidency of Donald Trump (2017-2021), who reversed the historic rapprochement process with Havana launched by his predecessor, Barack Obama (2009-2017).
