The United States received more than half a million Cubans in just two years

Asylum in the United States. Photo: DesignRage / Shutterstock.com

Cuba is experiencing the largest exodus of its citizens in history, since the Castros came to power in 1959. According to the American authorities, at least 533.000 Cubans arrived in the country fleeing the economic and social crisis on the island, as well as in search of opportunities in the land of freedom.

The more than half a million Cubans represent 4.8% of the 11 million inhabitants of the Caribbean nation, according to the French Press Agency (AFP). This does not take into account other types of visas granted by the US government for people to legally enter the country.


According to a statement from the United States Customs and Border Protection Office (CBP), approximately 2023 Cubans entered the country illegally in 153.000 alone. Some 67.000 arrived directly through the Humanitarian Parole program approved last January by President Biden's administration.

If we add to this the more than 313.000 who entered the country without papers in 2022, the figure increases considerably. The director of the Cuban Research Institute at Florida International University, Jorge Duany, stated that this situation "represents the largest number of Cuban migrants ever recorded in two consecutive years since the beginning of the post-revolutionary Cuban exodus in 1959."

But the current migration crisis surpasses the exoduses of 1960 and 1963 of some 300.000 Antilleans, as well as the Mariel exodus in the 80s when 130.000 fled. Years later, specifically in 1994, there was the crisis of the rafters where 35.000 people took to the sea to escape the Special Period that was befalling the island after the collapse of the Socialist bloc.

In 2022 and 2023, the Caribbean nation lost a significant amount of specialized labor. Many experts with vast experience in different fields escaped the country's economic crisis to head mainly to the United States. Young people also experienced a high number of them due to the impossibility of fulfilling their dreams on an island devastated by socialist ideology.

Part of the country's most energetic workforce, namely the young, packed their bags and left in large numbers, leaving behind a country with one of the highest aging rates in Latin America. According to Professor Duany, "many young people with high educational and occupational levels fled, which represents a substantial loss of the country's human resources."


The United States remains the largest recipient of Cubans worldwide. However, not all have the possibility of reaching American soil and try other destinations such as Latin America and Europe, accentuated in countries that do not require visas for Cubans. For example, in 2022 Mexico granted refuge to 36.574 Cubans, while some 22.000 managed to settle in Uruguay and others preferred to enter Chile.

In the old continent, Spain stands out as a recipient of Cubans, especially with the approval in 2022 of the Law of Democratic Memory or the so-called Law of Grandchildren. This law allows Spanish descendants to obtain Spanish nationality and thanks to it many Cubans benefit.

The Spanish embassy in Havana itself announced that, until the end of August 2023, its headquarters had the most approvals with approximately 15.000 approved applications. A figure that far exceeded that of the Mexican Consulate, which granted more than 8.500.

Since the Nicaraguan regime, allied to Cuba, lifted the visa requirement for Cubans in November 2021, all kinds of people have begun to leave. Many Cubans have managed to breathe freedom after months of continuous repression in the neighborhoods as a result of the demonstrations that took place in July of that same year.


Leave your comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked with *