MIGRATION:
More and More Cubans
Entering US through
Mexico
By Diego Cevallos
MEXICO CITY (IPS)
- The number of Cuban
migrants intercepted in
Mexico climbed from 254
in 2002 to 1,359 in
2007. And nearly 1,000
were detained in the
first four months of
this year alone -- the
visible face of a people
smuggling business that
apparently operates in
collusion with the
police and other corrupt
authorities.
The statistics came from
the national migration
institute (INM) which,
however, estimates that
many more undocumented
Cuban migrants come
through the country,
because some of those
who are seized simply
disappear, along with
the record of their
detention, after they
pay a bribe, while many
others are never
detected.
The flow of Cubans
seeking to reach the
United States, without
exit permits from the
Cuban government or U.S.
entry visas, remains
steady. Regardless of
their migration status,
Cubans are eligible to
apply for residency a
year and a day after
they set foot on U.S.
soil, under the 1966
Cuban Adjustment Act,
although if they are
intercepted at sea, they
are sent back to Cuba,
under what is known as
the "wet foot, dry foot"
policy.
On Jun. 12, a group of
armed men hijacked an
INM bus that was
carrying 33 Cubans and
four Guatemalan migrants
to an immigration
processing centre in the
southern Mexican state
of Chiapas. The masked
men forced the
immigration agents and
bus drivers out of the
vehicle at gunpoint and
drove away.
The empty bus was found
later, but there is no
information on the
whereabouts of the
migrants. The
authorities are
investigating several
state agents suspected
of taking part in the
hijacking.
According to unconfirmed
press reports, several
well-known Cuban
dissidents were among
those being transported
in the bus.
There are also rumours
that the operation to
"liberate" the migrants
was carried out by an
organised crime group
with ties to the
anti-Castro exile
community in Miami,
Florida.
Cuban Ambassador to
Mexico Manuel Aguilera
de la Paz said the
hijacking was no doubt
organised by "the Miami
mafia," a group that
includes Cuban-American
Republican legislators
Mario and Lincoln Díaz-Balart
and Ileana Ros-Lehtinen.
But Eduardo Matías López,
president of the Cuban
Mexican Civic
Association, questioned
these allegations.
"There are criminal
groups here that smuggle
people and drugs, carry
out kidnappings and are
involved in all kinds of
activities, but they are
only motivated by the
interest in earning
money and have nothing
to do with politics," he
told IPS.
"Authorities in both
Cuba and Mexico are
involved in this case
and in trafficking in
general; we have
abundant testimony to
that effect," López
added.
His anti-Castro group,
which was founded in
1996, provides legal
advice and assistance to
Cuban migrants
intercepted in Mexico,
to keep them from being
sent back to Cuba.
"There is total
corruption, and the
victims are people who
leave Cuba with the hope
of finding a better
life. They aren't
criminals," said López.
The activist said Cuban
authorities take bribes
of around 5,000 dollars
per person to allow a
boat carrying migrants
without exit permits to
leave the island, on the
way to Mexico. And when
they make it to Mexico,
he said, the migrants
must fork over another
4,000 dollars for a
tourist visa.
Reports from the Mexican
government indicate that
the majority of the
Cuban migrants arrange
their journey with
groups of traffickers
who charge up to 7,000
dollars.
The total cost of the
trip thus runs 15,000
dollars or more.
The traffickers pick up
the migrants in Cuba or
at sea and take them to
different points along
the coast of the
southeastern state of
Quintana Roo, on
Mexico’s Caribbean
coast. From there, the
migrants continue their
journey to the United
States by land or sea.
According to reports
last year by the Mexican
navy, eight of every 10
undocumented migrants
intercepted in Mexican
waters were Cuban.
Cuban president Fidel
Castro complained in
2005 about a supposed
people smuggling ring
financed by the exile
community in Miami,
Florida, which he said
landed Cuban migrants on
Mexico's Caribbean
coast, before taking
them on to the United
States. He said the
network was tolerated by
authorities in both
Mexico and the United
States.
Mexico, which shares a
3,200-km border with the
United States, refutes
the allegation, and
insists that it
rigorously cracks down
on people smugglers.
But INM officials in
Quintana Roo have
denounced that some of
their colleagues charge
the Cuban migrants
bribes to refrain from
reporting them or to
provide them with legal
papers.
"We have no ties with
the Cuban groups in
Miami, but it is clear
to us that those who
leave the island, via
Mexico, are trying to
reach that city, where
they have family," he
said.
The governments of
Mexico and Cuba are
negotiating a migration
agreement to curb the
flow of migrants and
regularise their passage
through Mexico.
Since he took office in
December 2006,
conservative President
Felipe Calderón has
worked at rebuilding
relations with Havana,
which were damaged under
the administrations of
Ernesto Zedillo
(1994-2000) and Vicente
Fox (2000-2006).
A number of contacts
between the two
governments have now
been made, and there are
no major tensions. Cuban
Foreign Minister Felipe
Pérez Roque is planning
an official visit to
Mexico in September,
when an agreement may be
signed.
The Cuban government has
long complained that the
wet foot, dry foot
policy encourages Cubans
to attempt the dangerous
ocean crossing to
Florida or Mexico. But
Washington insists that
Cubans are merely
fleeing political and
social oppression.
Cuba also complains that
the U.S. law violates
the migration accords
signed by the two
countries in 1994 and
1995, under which any
Cubans intercepted at
sea by the U.S.
authorities must be
returned to Cuba. |
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