Costa Rica's uphill battle for a solution to the Cuban migrant crisis.
| Autor | Rodriguez, George |
Just over a month ago, a humanitarian crisis exploded in Costa Rica when hundreds of Cuban migrants en route to the United States suddenly-found themselves trapped in limbo in this country's southern border (NotiCen, Dec. 10, 2015).
Costa Rican authorities have explained that the problem arose on Nov. 10 at the 330-kilometer land boundary with Panama, when Costa Rica dismantled a migrant traffickers' network and thus broke a link in the regional chain of border crossings.
For years, Cubans seeking better labor and economic opportunities have followed a long trail from the Caribbean island nation to the US, most of which involves a high-risk land voyage that starts after Cubans travel legally, by air, from Cuba to Ecuador. This, instead of using makeshift rafts to cross the 90-mile sea stretch between Cuba and the US, also a dangerous voyage (NotiCen, March 10, 2011).
The clandestine northward land trek leads from Ecuador to bordering Colombia and then, after a boat ride to Panama, follows, again on land, through Costa Rica and the rest of Central America. Once they cross the 962-kilometer border shared by Guatemala and Mexico, the Cubans board planes to the Mexico-US line.
US legislation favorable to Cuban migrants is the magnet attracting the flow. The Cuban Adjustment Act (CAA)--the short version of "An act to adjust the status of Cuban refugees to that of lawful permanent residents of the United States, and for other purposes"--in effect since November 1966, and the "Wet Foot, Dry Foot" policy, added in 1995, allow Cubans entering US territory to remain, and work, in the country.
"La Ley de Ajuste Cubano," as the CAA is known in Spanish, makes Cubans admitted into the United States after Jan. 1, 1959--when the Movimiento 26 de Julio led by Fidel Castro toppled the dictatorship of Gen. Fulgencio Batista (1952-1959)--eligible for permanent resident status once they have remained in US territory for at least a year (NotiCen, April 16, 1998, June 24, 1999, Aug. 4, 2000, and Aug. 8, 2013).
The "Wet Foot, Dry Foot" policy grants Cubans who arrive in US soil with or without visas "dry feet"--the same benefits, and allows them to eventually apply for US citizenship. Those intercepted on the 90-mile sea stretch between Cuba and Florida--"wet feet"--are returned to the island.
But the normalization process in Cuba-US relations, announced a year ago by Cuban President Raul Castro in Havana and US President Barack Obama in Washington (NotiCen, Jan...
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