Illegal flow of Cubans to U.S. on the rise

Illegal flow of Cubans to U.S. on the rise
Mon Oct 1, 2007 3:41pm EDT
By Anthony Boadle

HAVANA (Reuters) - The number of Cubans leaving their communist-run
country by sea is steadily increasing and has reached the highest level
since a mass exodus in 1994, according to U.S. figures released on Monday.

Fiscal 2007 figures showed that twice as many Cubans arriving in the
United States without travel documents are doing so via Mexico instead
of crossing the Florida Straits.

U.S. officials said good weather and calm summer waters had contributed
to the rising number of Cubans departing by sea, though the absence of
hope for change in Cuba in the year after Cuban leader Fidel Castro fell
ill was driving more Cubans to leave.

"At bottom, the reason why people are willing to risk their lives to
leave Cuba is the lack of hope and expectations," said U.S. Consul
General in Havana, Sean Murphy.

The U.S. Coast Guard intercepted 2,861 Cubans crossing the Florida
Straits in smugglers' speed boats or home-made craft during the fiscal
year ending September 30.

But another 4,825 made it to the United States, where by law Cubans --
unlike other nationalities -- are almost automatically allowed to stay
if they make it ashore.

Those two categories totaled 7,686, the highest annual figure since more
than 35,000 took to the sea in the summer of 1994, at the depth of
Cuba's post-Soviet crisis, to be picked up by the U.S. Coast Guard. The
number was 7,088 in fiscal 2006.

In recent years, high-speed boats manned by people smugglers have become
the most common way to get out of Cuba by sea, though the fare is a
hefty $8,000 to $10,000 a passenger.

To avoid interception by the U.S. Coast Guard in the Florida Straits,
the illegal traffic is mostly heading for Mexico. Once ashore, Cuban
emigres make their way to the U.S. border where they just have to
present themselves as Cuban to be allowed to enter the United States.

According to U.S. Customs and Border Protection, 11,487 Cubans entered
the United States in fiscal 2007 at the Southwest border, mainly in
Texas, almost twice as many as in 2005.

U.S. VISAS SHORT OF PLAN

Under agreements signed in 1994-95 and designed to avoid another mass
exodus, Washington agreed to grant 20,000 visas a year to Cubans to
foster safe, orderly and legal migration.

But the U.S. consulate only granted 15,000 visas in fiscal 2007 due to
the lack of sufficient staff to process more travel documents, Murphy
said. It has also suspended a lottery system used to select applicants
for residency in the United States.

That is because the Cubans have denied the U.S. mission permission to
hire adequate staff for the job, he said.

In July, Cuba accused the United States of failing to comply with the
1994-95 migration accords with the aim of destabilizing the government
of acting President Raul Castro, who took over from his brother 14
months ago.

Havana says the illegal and perilous exodus by sea is encouraged by the
politically motivated U.S. policy of allowing Cubans who step foot on
U.S. soil to stay.

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