Cuba's government is willing to accept more deportation flights from the United States carrying Cuban migrants who traveled to the U.S. southern border three years ago, a senior Cuban official said in an interview with CBS News.
After halting deportations for two years, both governments decided to restart flights with irregular migrants from the US to Cuba last year as part of their migration agreements. Since then, groups of migrants have been repatriated to the Caribbean nation on a monthly flight.
This week, Cuban Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Carlos Fernández de Cossío explained that Cuban officials are willing to accept more flights with immigrants, among other topics of interest related to the phenomenon of migration.
“We are open to having more,” said Carlos, who led the Cuban delegation that participated this week in the latest round of negotiations with Biden administration officials on migration issues.
The last flight to arrive in the Cuban capital took place on March 28 with some 61 irregular migrants on board, who are among the 149 people who were returned in the three operations this year.
Fernández de Cossío insisted that the blame for Cubans emigrating at such a rapid pace lies with the U.S. government, which maintains its economic embargo, as well as other policies and sanctions that, according to him, are intended to "destroy the Cuban economy." However, he did not mention the inefficient economic policy that the Cuban government and its leaders are using to deal with the shortage of food and basic supplies, among others, that affect the country.
"You can talk about other factors, but if there is a coherent policy on the part of the most powerful economy in the world to try to destroy the livelihood of an entire population, 11 million Cubans, it is logical to expect that people, a segment of the population, will want to leave the country," said the official during the conversation with the CBS News journalist.
He urged the State Department to renew the processing of tourist and short-term travel visas in Havana, which require those eligible to travel to a third country to have their cases processed. In this regard, he reported that members of the U.S. delegation had suggested to him that full visa processing would be fully reestablished in the future.
He expressed his concern about the outcome of the presidential elections next November, since if the American people elect Republican candidate Donald Trump, it is likely that the measures against Cuba will be resumed with greater force and with others added, which in his opinion would be "unfair" and "immoral."
"Of course we are concerned if there are additional economic measures [against] Cuba, regardless of who wins the election. The Biden administration has very faithfully implemented the policies implemented by the Trump administration and added some," the official explained.
