Cuban ‘exodus’ blamed on failed reforms

Cuban 'exodus' blamed on failed reforms
But Coast Guard doesn't predict 'mass migration'
BY DAVID GOODHUE
dgoodhue@keysrepOctober 31, 2014 Updated 19 hours ago

Despite a marked increase in Cubans arriving by sea off South Florida,
the U.S. Coast Guard says it does not anticipate a Mariel boatlift-type
of crisis any time soon.

Between the 2,059 Cubans stopped at sea trying to land on shore and the
more than 800 who actually made it here, there has been a 75 percent
increase in attempted and successful migration from last fiscal year,
which ended Sept. 30.

But according to Cmdr. Tim Cronin, assistant branch chief of the Coast
Guard's Seventh District, there has been no indication that a flood of
migration from Cuba is imminent.

"The number of Cuban migrants attempting to enter the U.S. has steadily
increased over the last five years," Cronin said in a statement e-mailed
to The Reporter Thursday. "But the numbers are not indicative of any
immediate threat of mass migration."

But some Cuba experts aren't as optimistic. Jorge Duany, director of
Florida International University's Cuban Research Institute, said there
is already a sort of "exodus" happening from the island "in the sense of
a massive departure of people from their homeland."

"The accumulation of unsatisfied pressure to migrate, together with the
impulse toward family reunification, is likely to sustain a high
migration rate from Cuba," Duany said. "The situation may lead to a new
migration crisis in the near future."

Whatever is behind the increased migration, one thing is clear: The
annual 20,000 visas allotted by the United States government to Cubans
are not enough to keep up with demand, Duany said.

Also, the risky methods and makeshift types of vessels many Cubans are
using to get to the United States show recent reforms instituted by
President Raul Castro have not gone far enough to improve his people's
economic situation.

Since January 2013, Castro eliminated the need for Cubans to seek
permission to leave the island. This meant that Cubans could come and go
using systems most of the Western world has been used to for
generations, including passports and visas. But according to Julia E.
Sweig, director of Latin American Studies for the Council on Foreign
Relations, not many people there can afford this luxury.

"Cuba has increasingly become a class society," Sweig said. "That's why
you're seeing so many people still getting in these unsafe contraptions."

Joe Azel, senior scholar at the University of Miami's Institute for
Cuban and Cuban-American Studies, was more direct in his criticism of
Castro's government.

"Whatever hope had been raised has now been proven false, and thus the
increase," said Azel.

The economic crisis in Cuba began with the collapse of its patriarch,
the Soviet Union, in 1989. Duany says this means many young Cubans don't
remember anything else but low wages, rising unemployment, price
inflation and deteriorating public services.

"The lack of economic opportunities has led an entire generation of
young Cuban people, raised after the onset of the economic crisis in
1989, to look elsewhere to fulfill their professional and personal
aspirations," Duany said.

He added that the U.S.'s wet-foot, dry-foot policy further entices
Cubans to make the dangerous maritime journey. Under the policy, any
Cuban migrant who sets foot on shore here can stay and is granted legal
status.

"Many of them take to the sea in rafts, small boats, and anything that
floats in hope that they will reach the promised land, the United
States," Duany said.

Cubans are also increasingly coming to the U.S. by way of Mexico.
According to El Nuevo Herald, The Reporter's sister paper, more than 16,
200 Cubans crossed into the United States over the Mexican border last
fiscal year.

Three incidents this week highlight just how desperate many Cubans are
to leave their country and come to the States. Coast Guard crews,
Miami-Dade Police and civilian boats rescued 11 Cubans about four miles
offshore near Turkey Point nuclear power plant Monday after the
migrants' homemade raft began falling apart. Two of the raft's
passengers are considered lost at sea, according to Cronin.

On Wednesday, the Coast Guard stopped a makeshift vessel carrying 33
Cubans off Boca Raton. And off Key West this week, the Coast Guard
stopped "an unseaworthy vessel" carrying 30 Cubans.

At press time Thursday afternoon, Cronin said "there are units currently
responding to two more sightings of Cuban chugs from Coast Guard and
Customs and Border Protection aircraft."

Source: Cuban 'exodus' blamed on failed reforms | News | KeysNet -
http://www.keysnet.com/2014/10/31/499484/cuban-exodus-blamed-on-failed.html