One hundred eighty-four thousand Cubans traveled outside of Cuba during the first eleven months of 2013, thanks to immigration reform enactment earlier this year. That is the figure that Cuba’s Interior Ministry (MININT) handles, accounting for departures occurred between January 14 and November 302013 . Some have mounted more than once on the plane, as the authorities have recorded 258,518 trips.
Sixty-six thousand people went to the United States, out of which 40,000 have not yet returned. Contrary to what one might expect, most travelers didn’t go to the Northern Country: 118,000 went to other countries, out of which about 62 thousand, 52%, did not return
In total, since 2013, some 110,000 Cubans already threaten to be part permanently of the Cuban communities abroad.
These accurate figures were given by Colonel Lamberto Fraga, deputy chief of the Directorate of Immigration of MININT, to a crew of the Cuba Today , a YouTube channel which publishes reports on the reality of the Island
In the interview, Fraga explained why some travelers have not yet decided to extend their stay in Miami or anywhere in the U.S. geography. “We have estimated (we believe) that many Cubans when entering the United States are going to wait a year and a day to adjust (sic) their residence and thus obtain it, so they can return to Cuba and travel back to the United States without requesting a new visa. “
The verb “adjust” refers to the Cuban Adjustment Act of 1966, which gives permanent residency to Cubans staying more than a year in the United States.
Fraga said “since work began on the implementation of the immigration measures, both the U.S. and other countries began to tighten entry requirements.”
Panama, Mexico, Spain and Ecuador are other countries mentioned as destinations of the Cuban community. Cubans ” are based in the area of Latin America and Europe, specifically, which is through where most passengers depart in this category,” said Lt. Col. Alexander Alvarez, head of the Migration Office at the José Martí International Airport, Havana.
Emigration is negatively affecting the Cuban demographics. In ten years, the population of the island has not grown, and remains lurch around 11.1 million inhabitants, with slight increases or decreases, depending on a birthrate that can no longer cover the red numbers caused by the balance of external migration.
In 2012, the year prior to the reform, more than 46 thousand people migrated off Cuba, 16% more than in 2011. That is the highest figure recorded by the National Bureau of Statistics of Cuba since 1995, and is only surpassed by that of the previous year. It remains to see if the numbers of the first year of immigration reform break records.
Author
Javier Ortiz
