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| Caribbean-Latin America |
| U.S. Grants 20,000th Cuban Immigrant Visa |
| 2004-07-22 |
| EFL "We've done our part," said James Cason, chief of the U.S. Interests Section in Havana. America's top diplomat to Cuba said on Wednesday the United States has fulfilled its commitment this year to grant permanent immigration visas to at least 20,000 Cubans, and it was now Cuba's turn to honor its obligations under migration accords. The migration accords were established in the mid-1990s to promote legal, orderly migration between the two countries. Under the agreement, the United States must provide at least 20,000 visas to Cubans annually, and Cuba is to discourage its citizens from making risky attempts to immigrate illegally to the United States. Cason complained that a lack of access by the American mission to the government-controlled Cuban press keeps people uninformed about safe ways to migrate. He called Cuban claims that the United States wants to provoke a mass migration crisis "totally false." The United States will continue granting visas to as many other Cubans as possible this year in order to provide a safe, legal way off the island. "We want to publicize this, to let them know we're here, and that you don't have to go by sea," Cason said... |
| Posted by:Super Hose |