Thousands of Cubans stranded en route to USA

Luke Skywalker · Dec 10, 2015

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Nicaraguan police block Cuban migrants from crossing the border Nov. 16, 2015. Thousands of Cubans are stranded in Costa Rica as they try to make their way north to the USA, where they can present themselves to the Border Patrol and gain entry into the country.(Photo: Alvaro Sánchez, EPA)

A group of 4,500 Cubans stranded in Costa Rica as they try to reach*the USA*by land suffered a new*blow this week when one more*Central American country refused to let them pass.
Nicaraguan police forcibly stopped them from crossing the*border last month and Guatemalan officials announced last week they would not let the Cubans fly into their country to continue their journey north. *Tuesday night, Belize*scrapped*a planned "air bridge" that would have let*the Cubans fly into the country and continue their march.
"Belize got us all excited, then they let us down," Jaime Aguilera Sierra, one of the stuck Cubans, said in a telephone interview Wednesday. "You can see the reaction on everyone's faces. Sadness, depression, frustration and all of its synonyms."
Cubans have long reached the USA*by braving the 90-mile journey at sea, riding rickety boats and rafts across the dangerous, shark-infested waters of the Florida Straits. They have braved that trip because the Cuban Adjustment Act*allows Cuban immigrants who simply touch U.S. soil to stay and become legal permanent residents.
More Cubans started taking advantage of another route in the past year*after the Cuban government eased travel restrictions for its citizens. They can fly to countries such as Ecuador without a visa, so many have flown*there to start*the long journey to the USA*by land, assured of*legal entry.
In fiscal year 2014, 17,470 Cuban presented themselves at U.S. land ports along the Mexican*border. In 2015, that number nearly doubled to 30,966, according to data from Customs and Border Protection.
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There was little to stop the Cubans over the past year, but many of those countries are*under U.S. pressure to clamp down on their borders to prevent massive waves of illegal immigration to the USA. That became an imperative last summer, when tens of thousands of children*from El Salvador, Honduras and Guatemala flooded the U.S. border, creating a political firestorm in the USA.
Many of those countries hold little sympathy for Cuban migrants because of the specialized treatment they get under U.S. law.
"The question from Central Americans is, 'So why is it that Cubans have these privileges while Salvadorans and Mexicans have to go back to their country?' " said Frank Mora, director of the Latin American and Caribbean Center at Florida International University in Miami. "That creates certain tensions in the region."

Members of a group of 300 Cuban migrants rest in a shelter in La Cruz, Costa Rica, near the border with Nicaragua on Nov. 26, 2015. The Cubans are stranded on their journey to the USA as Central American countries refuse to let them pass.*(Photo: AFP/Getty Images)

Many of those countries have close ties with Cuba, which is experiencing a new exodus as*the*Cuban government tries*to shore up the island's economic base. Last week, it amended its travel restrictions to make it more difficult for Cuban doctors to travel outside the country.
"A lot of this (reaction from Central American countries) may*be in response to a perceived interest from Cuba," said Marc*Rosenblum of the Washington-based Migration Policy Institute. "Cuba doesn't like to see all of that immigration to the U.S. through Central America."
The flow of Cuban migrants comes as*Republicans have called for a halt to admitting*Syrian refugees*out of national security fears after terrorist attacks in Paris and San Bernardino, Calif. Members of both parties have called for changes to the visa waiver program that allows for easy travel to the USA*from dozens of countries.
Mora, a former Department of Defense official under the Obama administration, said that political climate*makes it difficult for the administration to make an exception for the stranded Cubans.
That leaves*4,500 people living in makeshift*accommodations along*Costa Rica's northern border,*unsure of what their future holds.*For Aguilera, it's another agonizing portion of what has already been an agonizing journey.

Jaime Aguilera Sierra, left, and his girlfriend, Graydelis Rivero, snapped this picture in Ecuador before starting their long trek to the USA. They are two of 4,500 Cubans stranded in Costa Rica, blocked by Central American governments from continuing their journey north.*(Photo: Handout)

The 31-year-old left his hometown of Holguín, Cuba, this year and moved to Quito, Ecuador, with his girlfriend. They both had children in Cuba*but left them behind to try to find a better life.
They left Ecuador just after sunset Nov. 9 in a group of 12 Cubans and started what Aguilera calls the most difficult trek of his life.
Along the way, they were captured in Colombia and held for ransom, paid bribes along the road, crossed a river teeming with human waste, ran straight into an electrified fence and saw people bloodied and bruised at every turn. They've ridden in buses, vans and*boats, spent*nights sleeping*in horrendous conditions*and at one point were*left with a total of two U.S. dollar bills.
With no idea how they'll continue their journey to the USA, Aguilera said he's losing hope.
"To those in Cuba who are considering this, I would say don't do it this way," he said. "The stories I heard about this trip were ugly, but the reality has been far worse. If I would've imagined even half of what we've experienced, I wouldn't have done it."

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Thousands of Cubans stranded en route to USA

Luke Skywalker

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