CUBA-US: Trafficking in Immigrants Hot Item on Agenda of Talks

By Dalia Acosta Reprint | | Print |

Dalia Acosta

HAVANA, Jun 30 1998 (IPS) - Cuba and the United States continue to agree on immigration matters, although a rise in the illegal exodus of Cubans and suspicions of trafficking in immigrants threaten to heighten tension again between the two countries.

Four years after the “rafters crisis” in which more than 20,000 Cubans boarded flimsy boats and rafts to try to reach the United States, representatives of the two governments sat down at the negotiating table for the ninth time on Monday to assess compliance with the immigration agreements signed in September 1994 and May 1995.

The talks in Washington, slated to last two days, ended after the first day of negotiations, which mainly concentrated on allegations that Cubans were being smuggled into the United States, according to the speaker of the Cuban parliament, Ricardo Alarcon.

“It is clear that people or groups in the U.S. state of Florida, as well as sectors that support them, are involved in the illegal trafficking of persons,” said Alarcon, the president of the Cuban delegation, which presented U.S. officials with documentary evidence of several cases.

The ninth round of talks followed the U.S. Coast Guard’s return to Cuba on Sunday of a group of undocumented would-be immigrants intercepted Jun. 23 heading towards the United States on a speedboat.

Cuban immigration authorities charged that the operation was coordinated by two Cuban exiles – Pedro Julio Guevara, who was visiting the island, and Miguel Broche Ortiz, who drove the speedboat.

The Cuban government’s National Information Agency (AIN) said the composition of the group – 11 men, 13 women and 10 children – was sufficient to indicate to local authorities that it was a case of contraband of persons.

The Miami daily ‘El Nuevo Herald’ reported this month that the rise in unauthorised departures from Cuba indicated that authorities on the island were turning a blind eye towards unauthorised departures.

But analysts in Cuba responded that by holding the government of Fidel Castro responsible for the increase in undocumented emigrants, Washington was attempting to hinder compliance with the bilateral pacts.

The September 1994 and May 1995 agreements commit the United States to issuing a minimum of 20,000 visas a year to Cuban citizens and to repatriate all would-be emigrees caught trying to leave the country and reach the United States.

Cuba, meanwhile, is to do everything within its power to curb unauthorised departures from the island, and to refrain from taking reprisals for the crime of “illegal departure from the country” against those who are repatriated.

The agreements brought an outcry from ultra-right sectors of the Cuban exile community in Miami, even though two of their main objectives are prevention of dangerous ocean crossings on makeshift watercraft and the promotion of legal emigration.

In spite of the accords, Cuban emigrants continue to enjoy preferential treatment in the United States, thanks to a law that stipulates the right of all Cubans – whether undocumented or legal immigrants – to asylum as soon as they have spent a year and a day in the country.

Besides the trafficking of undocumented emigrants, Alarcon maintained that the Cuban exile group Brothers to the Rescue patrolled the waters between Cuba, the Bahamas and the state of Florida, providing food, radios and cellular phones to “rafters.”

Brothers to the Rescue was formed early this decade to rescue at sea Cubans trying to reach the United States.

The wave of unauthorised departures peaked with the August- September 1994 exodus, when more than 20,000 people poured out of Cuba.

Alarcon added that the activities could be linked to other criminal ventures, such as drug trafficking.

U.S. Coast Guard statistics show an increase in the number of Cubans intercepted at sea, from 45 in the first quarter of 1997 to more than 120 in the same period this year.

A total of 1,053 undocumented immigrants have been returned to Cuba since the signing of the May 1995 accord. From January to June, the number of undocumented immigrants could have been even higher than the total number repatriated last year, according to estimates.

In spite of the rise in unauthorised departures, Havana and Washington admitted their mutual satisfaction Monday regarding compliance with the accords.

Nevertheless, certain discrepancies persist. Havana demands that Washington lift what it describes as “extreme restrictions” keeping Cubans from travelling to the United States to visit their families. Cuba sees the easing of such restrictions as one way to normalise the migration flow between the two countries.

A U.S. official who preferred to remain anonymous revealed that 77.5 percent of the 55,000 Cubans applying for tourist visas to visit the United States from October 1995 to September 1997 were turned down.

The United States, meanwhile, continues to complain about the high fees that Cuba charges those who obtain U.S. residency visas for pre-travel procedures. Washington contends that the 500 dollar fees – payable in dollars only – charged for the medical exams and other procedures run counter to the spirit of the accords, because it effectively keeps some people from using their visas before they expire.

But Alarcon maintained that while Cuba had reduced the fees for some people in order to facilitate their emigration, the United States had increased the rate charged for an interview with consular officials by 62.5 percent. “They not only charge those who are granted visas, but those who never travel as well,” he argued.

Although the U.S. Cuban Interest section charges the fee in Cuban pesos – to the benefit of visa applicants – the diplomatic office is able to change pesos for dollars at the official exchange rate of a dollar per peso, when a dollar sells at the rate of 19 pesos in government exchange bureaus.