American Visas for Cuba, 1st time in over 4 years
Cuban capitol Havana saw a halt in administrative activities by the US embassy after personnels from the US suffered an attack in 2017
After more than four years Cuban can have access to those services again after the American embassy activated visas issuing in the Cuban capital again.
A small group of people were seen gathered outside the consular section of the embassy in Havana on Tuesday.
“Welcome to the embassy after so much time,” said a Cuban employee told the group waiting for their appointments.
DC closed its consular services in the Cuban capital in 2017 after US personnel and their relatives suffered from unknownillnesses subsequently known as “Havana Syndrome”
A report from the Capitol in 2020 said the diseases suffered by staff and their families were most likely caused by “directed, pulsed radio frequency (RF) energy”.
The closure was a big step back to many Cubans wanting to emigrate to the United States to escape the struggles in the country.
“We’re hoping that all goes well. I’ve been waiting three years for this to meet my daughter once again” in the US, said one citizen who spoke on condition of anonymity. “I haven’t seen her for several years.”
The action comes after the US held its highest-level diplomatic talks with Cuba last month. Ties between the two countries encountered severe disruption during the administration of former US President Donald Trump.
Early 2022 saw the US announced it would begin a “limited” and “gradual” reopening of its embassy and consular services, and that it will re-assess a large backlog of requests for visas by Cubans with family in the US.
Ties among the two countries’ have remained tensed under US President Joe Biden over migration, present American sanctions against the island and the Cuban government’s recent crackdown on opposition protesters.
After the shut down of the embassy, Cubans seeking to move to the US were obliged to overcome several obstacles, among them having to travel to Colombia or Guyana to submit a request.
The progress also comes at a time when the US is keen on tracking the growing number of Cubans trying to cross to the US, in some occasions without documentation.
Following last months reports by the American government reflects on the number of Cubans seeking entry into the country that has doubled from February to March to and is now five times the number it was in October.
More of over 78,000 Cubans entered the country from Mexico between October 2021 and March this year, according to US Customs and Border Protection.
US are to issue more of over twenty thousand visas a year to Cubans, which the Cuban government wishes the US abide by a bilateral immigration agreement
