HAVANA - Cuba will scrap much-reviled travel restrictions starting in
January, making it easier for its citizens to leave the communist-ruled
island in the first major reform to its migration policies in half a
century.
The changes reverse tough restrictions imposed in 1961 when the
government tried to put the brakes on a mass migration of people fleeing
after the 1959 revolution that put
Fidel Castro in power.
The government said on Tuesday it will lift requirements to obtain an
exit visa permitting departure from Cuba and a letter of invitation
from someone in the destination country, putting an end to a process
that was too time consuming and expensive for Cubans, with no guarantee
of final approval.
Now, most Cubans will only have to show their passport, national
identity card and, if needed, a visa from the country they will visit to
go abroad, deputy immigration chief Colonel Lamberto Fraga told
reporters.
In theory, the changes should make it easier for Cubans to not only travel but to work abroad and return home when they want.
But Cubans will still have to obtain visas from most countries, which
may not be easy because of fears that those who were granted tourist
visas might not want to return to the island.
“For most, the key bottleneck will now be getting an entry visa from
the target country,” said Bert Hoffmann, a Cuba expert at the
German
Institute of Global and Area Studies in Hamburg.
The changes, which Fraga called “profound,” are the latest reforms
under President Raul Castro, who has modestly liberalized Cuba’s
Soviet-style economy.
An editorial in the Communist Party newspaper Granma said the travel
reforms were enacted as part of an “irreversible process of
normalization with its emigrants (abroad)” and to facilitate travel for
“practical matters” and orderly, safe immigration.
It put the blame for its previous policy on the
United States, which
it said has long tried to sabotage Cuba in various ways, including the
enticement of doctors and other professionals away from the island.
Over the last half century, thousands of Cubans have died trying to
cross the treacherous Florida Straits in flimsy boats and homemade
rafts, while hundreds of thousands more have completed the journey, many
of them in mass migrations in 1965, 1980 and 1994.
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| English: U.S. Interest section (Embassy) of the United States in La Habana - Cuba. Français : Batiment des Etats-Unis à La Havane - Cuba. (Photo credit: Wikipedia) |
The United States now accepts up to 20,000 Cubans annually via legal
immigration - mostly for the purpose of family reunification - and also
takes in those who manage to reach U.S. shores without being
intercepted.
Under the so-called “
wet foot, dry foot” policy, however, it turns
back Cubans picked up at sea. Almost 1,300 Cubans were repatriated to
Cuba in the last 12 months after failing to make it to U.S. shores.
The new measures, set to take effect on Jan. 14, extend to 24 months,
from the current 11, the amount of time Cubans can be out of the
country without losing rights and property, and they can seek an
extension, the government said.
’BIG STEP FORWARD’
Cubans welcomed the changes, which Castro promised last year but then
delayed because he said there were issues and details to be worked out.
“There have been many expectations for many years about a new travel
law. It’s a big step forward that will save us money and simplify the
process,” said Rafael Pena, an office worker, as he headed to his job in
Havana.
“At last, our government is not going to treat us like children,”
said
Israel Gutierrez, a college student, while waiting to board a bus.
One woman said she hoped to finally take her daughter to Disney World in Florida.
Another, Margarita Nunez, praised the changes and said she had only
one desire: “I hope I can go visit my family,” in the United States.
Prominent dissident blogger Yoani Sanchez, who complains that she has
been denied travel permits by the authorities 20 times, said on Twitter
she would test the lifting of restrictions as soon as they took effect.
“My friends tell me not to get my hopes up about the new immigration
law,” Sanchez said. “They say I’m on the ’black list’ but I’m still
going to give it a try.”
Fraga said restrictions would still be in place for certain groups
that Cuba does not want to lose, including doctors, members of the
military and athletes, and for reasons of national defense or security.
Cuba experts praised the changes as a big step forward.
“Like earlier decisions legalizing the personal sales of homes and
cars, this is another step in the direction of loosening restrictions
and opening up Cuban society,” said Sarah Stephens, executive director
of the Center for Democracy in the Americas, a Washington group opposed
to the
U.S. embargo on Cuba.
It “responds to the Cuban population’s highest priority wish to be able to leave and return to the island freely,” she said.
The changes also mean that “Cuba now gives its citizens more freedom
to travel to the U.S. than the U.S. gives its citizens to travel to
Cuba,” said John McAuliff of the
Fund for Reconciliation and
Development, which advocates for better U.S.-Cuba relations.
Under its longstanding trade embargo against Cuba, the United States
allows
Cuban Americans free travel to their homeland but requires most
other Americans to get a license from the U.S. government to visit the
island.
