Breezes you have the secret of the two swells,
The chill of the dew on the skin…
and the detachment of the body of another nailed body.
Lezama Lima.
If there is a change with equal impact both in the real and the symbolic world, that is the immigration reform that from next January will be in force in the country.
Just when we least expected it, not at a session of National Assembly or anything like that, the Cuban government jumped into the ring and published a set of measures that modify the existing immigration law and that with certainty bring some relief to the lives of Cubans, expand their possibilities of success, and their sense of autonomy.
Being islanders, a too literal concept in the past decades, was costing us dearly. This is a logical step, essential, within the urgent updating of economic, social and of all kind sectors that the government has been promoting in the past three years. If a visa is denied now, which it will surely happen, it will be by foreign embassies. In real terms, we still lack the economic resources to travel. But in terms of politics and credibility, the migration reforms are a balm for the Cuban socialist project.
In an interview granted to the Cubahora website, prestigious Cuban-American lawyer José Pertierra who lives in Washington, say something important: “We’ve been expecting this announcement for years. It is wise to have children requesting for parental authorization to go out for a walk, but adults shouldn’t be restricted that way. The requiring of an exit visa and letter of invitation are examples of excessive paternalism that did nothing but create unneeded resentment among the people”.
Later he explained: “the Cuban migration phenomenon looks likes all others. It is mainly economic: migrants are people who decide to migrate to improve their economic situation in another country where they might have better chances to make a better living”.
Two key issues: we mixed up, or better yet, we turned for too long simple personal reasons into political issues, and the quest for prosperity into ideological conflicts.
These measures, if we check on the facilities both for emigrants and Cubans residing in the country, a jump ahead that should translate into happiness. Though there are still some limitations for professionals. Understandable since when it comes to human capital none Third World country can match Cuba’s. But, it is likely that if there is a restructuring of the country’s labor force, we will have too many engineers where, due to the prevailing chaos, we seem to be short of. Then engineers, architects and maybe even teachers could find employment abroad without renouncing their citizenship or residency.
We have done something clever in political terms. We lifted the blame from our shoulders. We have done something that in civics is understood as basic principle. We now we have the right to leave and enter the country as we please.
There are people who will never travel abroad, and there will others that will do to never return. In any case, there will be no “higher power” to stop them. And I am saying: that’s enough.
Authors
Carlos M. Álvarez,
carlos
