{"id":257084,"date":"2022-08-27T12:08:17","date_gmt":"2022-08-27T16:08:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/oncubanews.com\/en\/?p=257084"},"modified":"2022-08-27T12:08:17","modified_gmt":"2022-08-27T16:08:17","slug":"cubans-caught-between-mexican-embassy-and-deep-blue-sea","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/oncubanews.com\/en\/cuba\/cubans-caught-between-mexican-embassy-and-deep-blue-sea\/","title":{"rendered":"Cubans, caught between Mexican embassy and deep blue sea"},"content":{"rendered":"

Better times are not remembered with the Mexican embassy in Cuba. Among the thousands of residents of the island who each year need an appointment to request a visa of any kind or legalization procedures, the shared memory on this institution is linked to its inaccessible and macabre system for obtaining appointments and the permanent complaints about their illicit sale.<\/span><\/p>\n

Users of a <\/span>group<\/b><\/a>\u00a0of more than 29,000 nationals on the Facebook social network have described it concretely: getting an appointment at the embassy in Havana is practically impossible. So much so that, according to Internet users commenting on the <\/span>official account<\/b><\/a> of the headquarters itself on Twitter, some have spent up to three years trying to get an appointment to materialize their procedures.<\/span><\/p>\n

Getting an appointment: a Cuban fight against demons<\/b><\/p>\n

On the odyssey of Cubans who need to carry out procedures at the Mexican headquarters, there are, at least since 2018, press records that account for the anguish of those seeking an appointment. Through digital media, social networks and official channels, Cubans have made known their testimonies and experiences about \u201cthe problems\u201d to get an online appointment.<\/span><\/p>\n

The platform arranged for the appointment process received the name of <\/span>Mexitel<\/b><\/a>\u00a0until March 1 of this year, when it became <\/span>Citas Cuba<\/b><\/a>. With one name or another, the disagreements around the system have been the same over the course of the last five years.<\/span><\/p>\n

Cubans have complained for years about the difficulties in accessing the platform due to connectivity problems on the island and the usual oversaturation of the page, which prevents even completing the data and validating the registration, even if the steps at the bottom of the page are followed to the letter.<\/span><\/p>\n

And although, in response to the systematic concerns of users, the online appointment service has been updated with the inclusion of new authentication steps in order to \u201cavoid\u201d transgressions, in no way has access to appointments been guaranteed in simple way, \u201cfree and legal\u201d as established.<\/span><\/p>\n

The procedure for getting appointments has not been constant either. It has gone from a weekly to a quarterly system. But it has not managed to be more efficient for it.<\/span><\/p>\n

In 2018, the Mexitel system was regularly activated every Friday around 9:30 a.m. (Cuban time), and each week \u201ca certain number\u201d of appointments were made available to Cubans for document legalization and visa application procedures.<\/span><\/p>\n

Alternately, online appointments were activated for one week exclusively for document legalization and visa application procedures with permission from the National Migration Institute and, the following week, only for visa applications without permission from the National Migration Institute. In this way, users entered the week that corresponded to their procedure and tried to schedule their interview.<\/span><\/p>\n

In 2019, although the system continued to open on Fridays, the appointment scheduling time was extended fortnightly. Currently, what is established is the quarterly opening.<\/span><\/p>\n

Meanwhile, the opening notice by the consular headquarters, which was previously carried out on Wednesdays when the system was activated on Fridays, is now carried out imminently (on the same day). This is an element that contributes to the disorientation of users who, according to what they state on the networks, remain in constant uncertainty.<\/span><\/p>\n

It is valid to clarify that in 2022, the annual number of appointments increased. Between January 4 and March 31, just over 4,000 appointments were opened. Meanwhile, on April 23 of this year, the diplomatic headquarters <\/span>announced<\/b><\/a>\u00a0the opening, that same day, of 16,000 new appointments for the period between May and December.<\/span><\/p>\n

However, according to users on the networks, the appointments for all those months of 2022 were sold out almost immediately. Therefore, it is obvious that the number of appointments available is still insufficient given the real demand.<\/span><\/p>\n

In this scenario, the combination of the need to carry out a procedure and the almost impossibility of obtaining an appointment through the only established route leaves Cubans in a very bad situation. Or what is the same, in the hands of those who promise to \u201cresolve\u201d by other means, and always with money involved.<\/span><\/p>\n

In troubled river\u2026 complaints of illicit sale of appointments<\/b><\/p>\n

At least since 2018 there have been complaints of people dedicated to selling appointments. And the trend has been proportional between the increase in demand and the complaints of the rise in \u201cparallel costs.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Thus, when the appointments were scheduled weekly, a press <\/span>report<\/b><\/a>\u00a0stated that \u201cthe safest way (to obtain one) was to pay 300 or 350 CUC (Cuban convertible pesos) to a person who lived near the embassy, that guaranteed you an appointment and a ten-year visa to Mexico.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Only a year later, in 2019, a press release already <\/span>mentioned<\/b><\/a>\u00a0that the costs reached around 800 CUC.<\/span><\/p>\n

The demand for visas that shot up these numbers grew in a context in which Mexico became one of the most preferred countries among Cubans for shopping tourism to later resell on the island the merchandise purchased at competitive prices in that country.<\/span><\/p>\n

During the years 2018 and 2019, Guyana, Panama, Mexico and Russia became the most visited destinations for these purposes by Cubans.<\/span><\/p>\n

However, although Panama established its Tourist Card in October 2018 to expedite this type of travel, and Guyana and Russia maintained a visa-free agreement with the island, Mexico, one of the most attractive options for nationals, both for its cheap merchandise and its geographical proximity, never implemented similar facilities.<\/span><\/p>\n

Nothing moves the Panamanian Embassy in Cuba<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n