Cuba recently declared that at high-level migration negotiations that are scheduled to start in Washington on April 16, 2024, it will demand that the United States remove sanctions and stop giving special treatment to Cubans who enter its territory illegally.
After being halted under Donald Trump’s administration, the twice-yearly gatherings began again in 2022, coinciding with a record high of around 500,000 illegal Cuban immigrants entering the country, as reported by US officials, starting in 2021.
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Cuba is experiencing a severe economic crisis that is typified by blackouts, runaway inflation, and shortages of essential products.
The declared goal of the negotiations is to encourage orderly, safe, and legal movement between the two nations.
The deputy head of Cuba’s foreign ministry’s U.S. relations, Johana Tablada de la Torre, expressed disappointment that the objectives were not met but said that the discussions were still crucial since they were one of the only avenues of communication under President Joe Biden’s leadership.
At a Havana press conference, Tablada stated, “The blockade (sanctions) … is what most weighs in on the bilateral migration situation.”
Cuba’s Communist leadership has long maintained that the island’s economy was stifled by American sanctions and that the island’s youth were encouraged to leave the country by the 1966 Cuban Adjustment Act, which gave Cubans preferential entrance privileges and support upon arrival.
The primary destination for Cuban migrants is the United States, which responds that Cuba’s residents are forced to flee due to a state-dominated economy and a shortage of civil freedoms and human rights.
The Biden administration has expanded Cubans’ legal avenues of movement, such as family reunions, humanitarian parole, and visa access in Havana, to reduce unauthorized immigration.
According to Tablada, the actions would not be sufficient to resolve the issue as long as the penalties persisted.
