Caribbean & Central America - April 2017 (ISSN 1741-4458)

Significantly fewer Cuban rafters (‘balseros’) are being picked up by the US coast guard since the US ended its exceptional migration policy for Cuba in January.

According to the US coastguard Commandant, Admiral Paul Zukunft, the number of Cuban migrants trying to cross the Florida straits in a bid to reach US shores has fallen dramatically in the three months since former US president Barack Obama (2009-2017) ended the so-called ‘wet-foot/dry foot’ policy - whereby irregular Cuban migrants arriving on US soil were given permanent leave to remain, but those found at sea were returned to Cuba or a third country.

According to Zukunft, since the policy (officially, the Cuban Adjustment Act of 1965/1995) was ended with immediate effect on 12 January, the US coast guard has intercepted about 100 hundred Cubans at sea, compared to some 5,500 in all of Fiscal Year 2016 (October-April). Immediately following the historic move by the US and Cuba to restore political relations in December 2014, there was a surge in irregular Cuban migrants trying to make it to the US, as they (correctly) anticipated the end of the wet-foot/dry-foot policy. According to the US Customs and Border Patrol agency, the number of Cubans arriving at US border entry points in FY 2016 was almost 55,000, up from 40,115 in FY 2015. The 5,500 Cubans intercepted at sea was up from 4,473 in FY 2015. Prior to that, numbers had been in decline, averaging about 2,500 interceptions at sea a year.

Zukunft said the decision by former President Obama had put an end to dangerous situations, for both migrants and coast guard officers. “I am talking about self-mutilation, self-inflicted firearms wounds, very desperate actions to get evacuated to a US hospital, so as to be declared a ‘dry foot’ and later freed”, he stated. “We had cases when they threatened to drown a baby if we tried to intercept them…It was also putting our people at risk”, he added.

The admiral noted that manpower and resources including boats and planes were now being put to use instead against maritime drug trafficking, claiming that the coast guard had managed to intercept 580 drug shipments that previously would have gone undetected. “Perhaps we can close that window a bit more”, he suggested. However, Zukunft warned of a potential increase in maritime drug trafficking in the Caribbean if the new US government led by President Donald Trump goes ahead with its planned ‘wall’ on the US-Mexico border.

Obama in January simultaneously ended the Cuban Medical Professional Parole programme (CMPP), which gave Cuban medical staff, and their immediate families (spouses and children), automatic ‘parole’ into the US. Cuba deeply resented this programme, complaining that it encouraged its highly-trained medical workers to abandon foreign postings.

Much like those irregular Cuban migrants stranded at the Mexico-US border since 12 January (anywhere between 500-1,000, including women and young babies, are still camped out in Nuevo Laredo), Cuban doctors and other medical workers who have abandoned foreign postings now remain stranded in some Latin American countries. Around 180 are currently living in limbo in Bogotá, Colombia, having abandoned medical missions in Venezuela. Some had applied for the CMPP prior to 12 January, others had not. The US has committed to taking those who had applied before the policy change, but the process appears to be moving very slowly. Meanwhile, they are not permitted to work in their host country and so are existing in difficult conditions.

• Cuban medical workers

Like the failed Cuban migrants stuck at the Mexican-US border, Cuban medical workers may apply for political asylum and/or leave to remain in their host countries. So far, most have declined to do so. Some are still desperately hoping that the Trump administration might make an exception for them – the influential Cuban-American lobby is working on their behalf. To date, Mexico and Colombia have been patient. Eventually however, these Cubans will be expected to either regularise their status, or look to migrate elsewhere. Ultimately, like some of their compatriots before them, they could face deportation.