Ecuador will impose a visa system to stanch flow of Cubans to U.S.
Beginning next Tuesday (Dec. 1), Ecuador will demand a visa from every Cuban citizen who wishes to enter its territory, Deputy Foreign Minister Xavier Lasso Mendoza told journalists Thursday (Nov. 26) in Quito.
According to Lasso, the visa requirement was reinstated to halt the growing practice by Cuban citizens of leaving the island for Ecuador and proceeding thence to the United States by irregular means through several Central American countries.
That practice has resulted in thousands of Cubans being marooned in Costa Rica, unable to cross into Nicaragua because Managua won’t grant them transit visas. [For background in Progreso Weekly, click here and here.]
The application will cost the Cubans nothing but the visa (designated as a “tourist 12-X visa”) will cost 30 dollars. It will expire in 90 days, after which it may be renewed.
The applications will be considered on a case-by-case basis.
“Our immigration policy is not repressive. We’re asking for visas only in this specific case,” Lasso said.
The need for a visa “does not mean that Ecuador is shutting its doors to Cuba,” the diplomat said. “We have nothing against Cuba. We’re doing this only to halt violations of human rights and danger to lives.”
Since 2008, Ecuador has not required visas from foreign travelers who enter the country as 90-day tourists.
The flow of Cubans into Ecuador has increased in recent months, Lasso pointed out.
“In January 2014, 753 Cuban citizens arrived in Ecuador. In January 2015, they numbered 2,502. That’s a strong trend,” he said. “Some stay, but most go on to the United States.”
At a meeting Tuesday in San Salvador of the SICA+4 Group (Panama, Costa Rica, Nicaragua, Honduras, Guatemala and El Salvador, plus Cuba, Ecuador, Colombia and Mexico) the foreign ministers present debated finding a solution to the problem, “which is not those 2,000 or 3,000 people but the unilateral measures taken to encourage the emigration of nationals from a country,” according to Salvadoran Foreign Minister Hugo Martínez.
Martínez was alluding to the United States’ efforts to entice Cuban citizens to its territory through the Cuban Adjustment Act, the “wet-feet-dry-feet” policy, and similar programs that encourage the defection to the U.S. of qualified Cuban professionals.
Thursday in Quito, Lasso said that the Ecuadorean government will ask for a meeting with the United States’ immigration authorities to discuss the situation. He also criticized the “wet-feet-dry-feet” policy.
