The launch this July 1, long-awaited immigration measures by the Cuban diaspora, including the reduction in the price of passports and the end of expensive extensions, is a “desperate” response from the Cuban government to the deep crisis that the country is experiencing, experts say.
When announcing the changes, considered the most significant since the immigration reform in force in 2013, the Cuban Foreign Ministry stated that it was doing so “as part of the continuous strengthening of Cuba’s ties with its nationals abroad.”
However, analysts indicate that attending to an old demand from the diaspora at this time has more to do with the need to attract a vital influx of foreign currency brought by islanders living abroad, specifically Cuban-Americans, in the midst of a one of the worst economic crises in recent decades.
“It is no secret that the Cuban government wants to take advantage of the economic resources of the emigrants -particularly remittances and trips to the island-, which serve as a kind of lifeline for a large number of families residing in Cuba,” he told the voice of america Jorge Duany, director of the Cuban Research Institute at Florida International University.
Although the official position insists on a rapprochement with Cubans outside the country, that means “in practice, maximizing travel by the Cuban-American community and sending dollars and merchandise to the island to alleviate the serious shortage of food, medicine , fuel and other basic necessities for the vast majority of the Cuban population,” the anthropologist specified.
“The food inflation that Cuba is suffering, the decline in tourism and the lack of sources of convertible currency are the answer to why this decision is being made. (…) It is a desperate measure to tell the Cuban community: ” Come here, it won’t cost you that much,” said Mario González Corzo, a doctor in Economics.
A “money machine”
“My passport expired and I did not renew it because it seemed disrespectful to have to pay more than 400 dollars to return to my country,” he explained to the VOA Yamilka Ruiz, a Cuban resident in Miami who has not traveled to the island for more than 7 years.
For Ruiz, paying the more than 450 dollars that it cost to renew the document through the agencies dedicated to the process was more than she was willing to pay. “Add to that the extensions (every two years in a passport with 6 validity) that would cost you more than 160 dollars each … a machine to make money and we are the hens that lay the golden eggs,” she complained. .
Contrary to its price within the country, where a new passport costs the equivalent of 100 dollars and another 20 dollars each extension, in the Cuban consulates abroad the procedure rose to 370 dollars, plus 320 dollars for the two stamps that extended the “lifetime” of the document.
Even if they have dual nationality, Cuba requires its nationals to enter the country with their Cuban passport, which meant an expense of at least 690 dollars in total during the six years it was valid. This without counting the fees of at least 60 dollars that the agencies or processors charge for each service.
As of July 1, the Cuban passport will be valid for 10 years, without the need to be extended, and it will cost 180 dollars or euros for those over 16 years of age and 140 for minors.
Between the announced changes It also includes allowing foreign relatives to stay longer in the country, requiring the use of the Cuban passport for nationals who emigrated before January 1971 and, most importantly, the free extension of stay outside the island beyond of the 24 months.
In consultation with various agencies dedicated to processing applications for passports and other documents in Miami, the VOA found that the price of services will now be around 260 dollars, a considerable decrease compared to the previous minimum cost.
“Before we charged about 430, 440 dollars for the processing of a new passport, and about 230 for each extension, including postage; now it will only be the price of the passport without extension, which will be valid for 10 years and we will charge 250 dollars,” explained Yudith López, a notary based in Cape Coral, in western Florida.
The reduction in costs could encourage the return of many Cubans who had not made the trip back to the island, as is the case of Erlandy Jiménez, who assured that he would apply for a passport himself before the Cuban Consulate in Washington to save money. the extra of the “preparers”.
“One hundred and eighty, 200 dollars is less than 400-something, with the difference I can buy a round-trip ticket from Miami to Havana. Yes, I think I’ll go (to Cuba) now,” he explained.
Migration, a balloon of oxygen for Cuba
Although Havana does not usually reveal data on the amount of remittances it receives from abroad, it is estimated that more than 75% of emigrants send aid to their relatives and relatives on the island, either in the form of money, mobile recharges or cleaning products and food through the so-called “mules” that travel regularly to the country.
According to data from Havana Consulting Groupin 2019 sending remittances to Cuba amounted to 3,128.93 million dollars, a number that experienced a sharp drop in 2021, when 1,084.01 million dollars would have arrived on the island.
He historic exodus to the US in the last two years this figure could increase.
The Caribbean nation is suffering today one of its worst crises, caused in large part by the inefficiency and corruption of its executives and the lack of liquidity to settle debts and acquire new resources, which has sparked popular discontent and an increasingly aggressive government response.
As stated in a release the Cuban government, these migratory measures are adopted in the midst of the “reinforcement of the blockade and the hostility of the US government”, in its desire to “suffocate the Cuban economy, damage the standard of living of the population, establish extraordinary restrictions on Cuba’s relationship with Cubans residing in United States territory”.
For the Cuban lawyer and political analyst Eloy Viera, “the announcement of these measures has been sold as the government’s desire to get closer to an emigration that it has driven away with its policies over more than 60 years and, therefore, Offering them that way allows them to have an argument at hand to try and demonstrate their desire to reform and include.”
“On the other hand, the context also indicates that today more than ever they are in need of foreign currency that they have not been able to “capture” (according to their own jargon) through what was their dream bet: a portfolio of businesses and investments that has never been attractive to no one,” Viera told the VOA.
The researcher and professor of History Michael Bustamante agreed that the migratory changes “are old claims” and “positive measures”, and pointed out that these are taking place now because “in the face of the current crisis, as well as the great frictions between the government and the diaspora produced by the events of July 11, 2021it is even more urgent that Cuba try to improve its relationship with its compatriots abroad.”
Bustamante, president of the Emilio Bacardí Moreau Chair of Cuban and Cuban-American Studies at the University of Miami, added that from the Cuban migrant community “it can come—in fact, it is already coming—sources of investment and purchasing power (that is, remittances) that have been instrumental in the expansion of the private sector and may play an even larger role in the recovery of the economy.”
Several experts, including González Corzo, indicate that it is very likely that Cuba will announce more measures to encourage visits.
“I predict that more (measures) will come, and that the possibility of taking items for personal use without payment of taxes through Customs may be extended,” said the professor from the Faculty of Economics at Lehman College of The City University of New York. .
A difficult gap to close
Despite the positive reception by the vast majority of the diaspora, Bustamante affirmed that he does not believe “that these measures will solve the great gap that exists between the authorities and many Cubans abroad. For the latter, we should not ‘thank’ these measures; they are things that should have occurred much earlier.
“Despite the significant reduction in the cost of the passport, many continue to suspect that what the government ultimately wants is to take advantage of their money without providing them, or their relatives on the island, with all rights (political, economic, etc.) .) that they deserve. Whether that impression is completely correct or not, it will continue to be a source of tension,” he concluded.
Another issue is that these changes take place “without offering real guarantees and little by little,” stressed Eloy Viera, who recalled that the Cuban government “has not issued any Citizenship Law that establishes the mechanisms so that Cubans with dual nationality can renounce their Cuban citizenship and enter the country as foreigners”
This, according to the lawyer and analyst, “is also a constitutional right that sadly many Cubans would prefer rather than continue paying for a passport that they only use to enter Cuba.”
This reaffirms “that there is no intention of offering a complete package of measures that regularize relations between the Cuban State and the diaspora. That is why what we have seen with these and other migratory measures are not legal norms published in the Official Gazette , but television announcements by officials of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs,” he explained.
The need to continue exercising control and perpetuating insecurity is key for Havana, and its announcements of changes are part of a “dropper” strategy where the government always keeps an ace up its sleeve, for when it needs to “offer another sample of approach,” said Viera.
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