Cubans want US consular services recalled from Guyana

Jan 11, 2019 News

Cubans have reportedly said that they will appeal for US consular services to be returned to that country.
Early last year, the US government took a decision for Cubans to travel to Guyana to uplift visas.
This was after the office there reduced its services.
According to the Prensa Latina, national coordinator of the Antonio Maceo Brigade, Andrés Gómez, announced on Wednesday that they will soon begin a campaign to demand the reopening of consular services in Cuba by the United States Government.
The leader of the organization based in the US city of Miami, Florida, said that Washington’s reasons for making such a decision were invented, which he described as ridiculous and harmful to the interests of the Cuban family.
With the argument of alleged incidents that affected the health of US diplomats in the Caribbean nation, and for which there is still no evidence, the Donald Trump administration removed most of the officials from its embassy in Cuba, and expelled from its territory a lot of the staff on the island.
Also, the State Department recommended its citizens not to travel to the largest of the Antilles and in December the White House permanently closed its office of the Citizenship and Immigration Service in Havana.
This closure requires Cubans interested in residing or traveling to the United States to go to third countries to receive the corresponding consular services.
‘To definitively emigrate to the United States, Cubans have to go to Guyana and for temporary visits they must go to Mexico City, which is unacceptable’, Gómez stressed before the national press.
He added that, in addition to that measure, the migrant service of the northern country only granted six thousand visas last year, of the at least 20,000 agreed by the Cuban and American executives to achieve an orderly and safe migration between the two nations.
He recalled that in the last caravan in Miami, the Alianza Martiana coalition – of which his organization is part – demanded the reopening of these services in Cuba and the right of American citizens to travel to the Caribbean nation, as well as the of the economic, commercial and financial blockade of the United States against the island.

A number of Cubans are asking that the US restart its consulate in that Spanish-speaking country, instead of persons having to travel to Guyana.

He also highlighted the growing relationship reached between Cuban emigration and the island as a result of the immigration reform carried out in the Caribbean nation of 2013 and the positive changes made subsequently.
The U.S. Department of State last March announced that it has shifted the appointment and interviewing of Cuban immigrants to its local embassy in Georgetown.
In the announcement, the department disclosed that since January, immigrant visa interview appointments for Cuban nationals have been scheduled at the U.S. Embassy, in Bogota, Colombia.
The decision to halt the processing of Cuban immigrants to the U.S. in Havana was due to a drawdown in staffing in Cuba to protect the safety of personnel.
“On April 1, we will begin transferring current immigrant visa applications and scheduling immigrant visa interviews for Cuban nationals at U.S. Embassy Georgetown, Guyana.
Guyana will then be the primary site for processing immigrant visa applications for Cubans. The first interviews will take place in June.”
According to the Department of State, as it transitions immigrant visa operations for Cuban nationals to Guyana, it will continue to communicate with applicants, so they have current information.
“No applicant should make travel plans until they have a scheduled visa interview appointment.”
In determining an alternative location, now Georgetown, Guyana, the department said it considered a number of factors including availability of flights, visa requirements, space to accommodate additional applicant files, and availability of staff.
“Cubans do not need a visa to travel to Guyana. As before, Cuban applicants for routine non-immigrant visas may apply at any U.S. embassy or consulate outside Cuba.”

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