**
machetera posted: "Cubas Updated Migration Policy Totally Confounds the
United States and the Micro-Republic of Miami - español aquí Edmundo García
Translation: Machetera On Monday, January 14, Cubas updated migration
policy went into force and one of the listene" Respond to this post by
replying above this line
New post on *Machetera*
<http://machetera.wordpress.com/author/machetera/> Cubas Updated
Migration Policy Totally Confounds the United States and the Micro-Republic
of
Miami<http://machetera.wordpress.com/2013/01/22/cubas-updated-migration-policy-totally-confounds-the-united-states-and-the-micro-republic-of-miami/>
by
machetera <http://machetera.wordpress.com/author/machetera/>
*[image:
tumblr_ls54y12Nd81qa0pmyo1_500]<http://machetera.files.wordpress.com/2013/01/tumblr_ls54y12nd81qa0pmyo1_500.jpg>Cubas
Updated Migration Policy Totally Confounds the United States and the
Micro-Republic of Miami *- *español
aquí*<http://www.rebelion.org/noticia.php?id=162331&titular=estados-unidos-y-la-republiquita-de-miami-se-ponchan-con-la-actualizaci%F3n-migratoria-cubana->
*Edmundo García*
*Translation: Machetera*
On Monday, January 14, Cubas updated migration policy went into force and
one of the listeners of my radio program, *La Tarde se Mueve* (Afternoon
Moves) called in to say that it was as though the floor had been yanked
right out from under the Miami critics of the Cuban revolution. They cant
figure out where to stand; theyre completely adrift in the comments
theyre making on the radio, TV, and other regular press outlets.
At the end of the program, around 6 pm., I heard Willy Allen, the Cuban
American immigration attorney tell Ramon Saul Sanchez on his program for *La
Poderosa* (The Powerful One), I believe that these measures are barely
going to change the situation there (in Cuba), while Sanchez responded,
But the dissident Guillermo Fariñas says that hes been told he can go
wherever he wants and then return. Willy answered, Oh, I didnt know
that, but look, there are hardly any exiles left. For the last 20 years the
huge majority of those who come to Miami are immigrants.
Thats exactly what weve been saying every day at *La Tarde se Mueve*;
that this is one of the reasons for Cubas updating of its migration
policy: the composition of Cuban emigration has changed, particularly in
regard to the United States, where it occurs more for economic than
political reasons, and this is a reality that must be taken into account.
So it turns out that Willy Allen, the braintrust behind the Miami project
known as Repression ID, dedicated to pursuing Cuban emigrants whove
supposedly participated in crimes against human rights in Cuba, agrees with
us.
The Cuban measures are so disconcerting that Miamis Cuban American
rightwing has been completely disoriented by them. So disoriented in fact
that you can see it in Alfonso Chardys recent report at *El Nuevo
Herald*about a meeting on U.S. immigration reform that took place in
the offices
of Congressman Mario Diaz-Balart in Doral. Congresswoman Ileana
Ros-Lehtinen also attended the meeting. The Cubans were not the main
objective but the subject of Cubas updated migration policy came up and
after both threatened to change or eliminate the Cuban Adjustment Act,
Diaz-Balart played stupid, saying that these were proposals made by other
congressional representatives, other colleagues; while Ileana later swore
up and down that she had no plans or intentions regarding eliminating or
changing the Cuban Adjustment Act. Thats how confused they are; they cant
even get their story straight.
>From Miami and other parts of the world, some tried to deny that the
measures are anything new. Since among the skeptics there are some honest
people who have nothing to do with the usual reactionaries, I want to say
to them that in a way, its understandable that some dont see a huge
change in the Cuban migration situation, because for quite some time, these
changes have been underway, gradually but convincingly. As was said from
the beginning, this is an updating and not an overturning, apology or
repentant revision of Cuban migration policy.
In a press conference offered on October 24, 2012, the Secretary of the
Council of State, Homero Acosta, reported that according to official data,
between the year 2000 and August 31 of 2012, 99.4% of the exit permits
solicited by Cubans were granted. Only 0.6% were denied, for substantiated
reasons. In that same period of time, some 941,953 persons traveled abroad
for particular reasons, of which 120,975 did not return, a total of 12.8%.
Of the total who traveled, 156,068 were university graduates and of those,
10.9% did not return.
According to Acosta, these statistics confirm that the great majority of
Cubans who travel abroad return to Cuba. Which is to say that an abrupt
change in Cuban migration policy does not exist, nor is there any need for
one, since the image of Cuba as a tropical gulag or prison from which one
cannot leave or enter - as the manipulative major media at the service of
foreign interests have historically portrayed it - is simply untrue.
As the data show, Cubans who have really wanted to travel have been doing
so regularly without many more limits than those that might exist in any
other country. This was confirmed on Monday, January 14, when the new
migration measures announced in Cubas Official Gazette last October went
into force.
At none of the 195 official passport offices was there any kind of unusual
crowd or fuss, as the disinformative blogger Yoani Sánchez tried to make it
seem. This so-called reporter for the Spanish *El País* newspaper spent the
morning at an immigration office in her neighborhood in Havana and was able
to complete the paperwork to travel normally. As she herself acknowledged,
she will only have to wait 15 days to collect her new passport; after all,
its not Yoanis first trip abroad.
What was definitely a lie was Yoanis claim that at that hour of the
morning there was a line of more than 70 people, with children clinging to
their parents, all desperately seeking papers in order to leave Cuba. The
Cuban journalist Manuel Lagarde posted photos of the place at his
blog, *Cambios
en Cuba*, along with photos of travel agencies and tour operators
functioning normally in Havana, something that other media like *BBC
Mundo*also reported- the offices were not mobbed by Cubans trying to
leave the
country.
The updating of the Cuban migration policy is not something left to chance;
its a well-considered policy that comes at a very specific moment,
following indications from Cubas president Raúl Castro in his speeches to
the National Assembly, the Sixth Party Congress in 2011 and the National
Party Conference in 2012. As Secretary Acosta also said, with these
measures Cuba is not seeking a stamp of approval from anyone.
A report was drafted based on criteria supplied by a wide-ranging committee
of specialists and leaders directed by General Abelardo Colomé Ibarra, that
was later studied by the Cuban government, where the confluence of a series
of factors supported an updating of the policy, among them, the existence
of a change in the nature of Cuban emigration. As Colonel Lamberto Fraga,
Second Chief at Cubas Immigration Directorate said, all policies and
procedures were ready to be applied as the measures went into force last
Monday.
But that Cuba should make it easier to leave and enter does not mean that
it is leaving its national territory at the mercy of its enemies. There are
two principles that should never be forgotten: The right of the revolution
to defend itself and the right to safeguard the human capital that the
revolution created.
How will this work in terms of travel permission for professionals in
sensitive sectors like health and sports? It is a question that many have
asked and will surely be answered in practice. For the moment, Cuban
immigration authorities have made it clear that the people who may not
travel, for reasons that are standard at the international level, are those
with pending judicial processes, persons who must complete existing
criminal sentences, persons who must perform military service (Military
Service Law 75) and others who have something to do with questions of
specific interest. A number of not entirely well-intentioned persons have
asked if the so-called dissidents and opposition will be able to travel.
The answer has been given. If they have no pending judicial problems, if
they are not at the age of military service, etc., then they may travel,
otherwise, no. Thats the law and theres no reason for exceptions or
particularities, so the staged media shows and campaigns are pointless,
because Cuba will not be pressured.
As soon as the migration reform was announced in October of 2012, both
Victoria Nuland and William Ostick, spokespersons for the U.S. State
Department, tried to react with apparent indifference in order to avoid
recognizing that the Cuban government had seized the initiative. Suddenly,
having posed as champions of freedom to travel, they suggested pressuring
third countries not to grant visas to Cubans, under the pretext that they
might be used as trampolines in order to illegally enter the United
States and take advantage of the so-called Cuban Adjustment Act.
Today it is truly indisputable that the United States is more restrictive
about entrances to and exits from its territory, than Cuba. As a result,
the press puppets in Miami have been unable to do anything other than
repeat the arguments emanating from Washington. Unlike Nuland however, who
recently stated that although the United States is not going to change its
policy, the Cuban immigration reform seems positive and consistent with the
Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the principle of family unity,
Miamis extreme right-wing, led by Congresswoman Ros-Lehtinen, has
dedicated itself to threatening in the local media to rescind the Cuban
Adjustment Act as a way of punishing the Cubans.
The news has made Cuba watchers like Jaime Suchlicki appear to have totally
lost it; he is claiming there will be a slow-motion Mariel exodus rather
than a Camarioca of millions. Janisset Rivero of the so-called Democratic
Directorate predicted lines several kilometers long at embassies in Havana.
And Ninoska Pérez Castellón, having nothing much to say at all, preferred
to ask her listeners, some of whom drove her crazy with their celebration
of the Cuban migratory changes.
As my friend, the Cuban journalist Iroel Sánchez said, Cuba was ready for
the immigration updates. Those who werent ready were that part of Miami
that although it has yet to win, seems still not to have learned how to
lose.
*Edmundo García is the host of *La Tarde se Mueve* in Miami.*
*Machetera is a member of Tlaxcala <http://www.tlaxcala-int.org>, the
international network of translators for linguistic diversity. This
translation may be reprinted as long as the content remains unaltered, and
the source, author, and translator are cited.*
*machetera <http://machetera.wordpress.com/author/machetera/>* | January
22, 2013 at 7:53 am | Tags: cuban adjustment
act<http://machetera.wordpress.com/?tag=cuban-adjustment-act>,
ileana ros-lehtinen<http://machetera.wordpress.com/?tag=ileana-ros-lehtinen>,
immigration <http://machetera.wordpress.com/?tag=immigration>, lincoln
diaz-balart <http://machetera.wordpress.com/?tag=lincoln-diaz-balart>,
travel <http://machetera.wordpress.com/?tag=travel> | Categories:
Cuba<http://machetera.wordpress.com/?cat=16719>,
Latin America / Caribbean <http://machetera.wordpress.com/?cat=398800>,
Migration <http://machetera.wordpress.com/?cat=1158> | URL:
http://wp.me/p9jQl-1hf
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