Cuba says it is providing “effective cooperation” to aid migrants stuck in Costa Rica

Nicaraguan Army troops were deployed recently to the Costa Rican border to repel more Cuban migrants arriving from Costa Rica. (Photo courtesy of the Costa Rican Foreign Ministry)

HAVANA, November 24th, 2015 (EFE) Cuban authorities are providing “effective cooperation” to provide a “quick, adequate solution” to the plight of more than 2,000 Cuban emigrants who have been stranded for over a week in Costa Rica on the Nicaraguan border, Cuba’s official media said Monday.

The migrants ended up in Costa Rica after setting out from Cuba “with the intention of emigrating to the U.S., encouraged by Washington policies like the Cuban Adjustment Act, among others, which is a magnet for irregular immigration,” a foreign ministry official told the ACN news agency.

Under Washington’s “wet foot, dry foot” policy, Cubans who reach U.S. soil are entitled to remain in the country and apply for legal permanent residence.

“It all goes against the existing accords on the matter and is a sign that migration is being used as a way to destabilize the island, while at the same time it puts migrants at risk from mafias and smugglers,” the Cuban official said.

Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez is expected to fly Tuesday to El Salvador to meet with counterparts from Panama, Costa Rica, Nicaragua, Guatemala, Mexico, Colombia and Ecuador for talks on the migrant issue.

Rodriguez flew to Ecuador and Nicaragua late last week to discuss with their respective presidents, Rafael Correa and Daniel Ortega, the situation of Cuban emigrants stranded on the Costa Rican-Nicaraguan border.

Since Nov. 14, Costa Rica has received on its border with Panama a wave of Cuban emigrants determined to travel through Central America and Mexico to the United States, with most of them setting out from Ecuador, the only country in the region that Cubans can enter without a visa.

Costa Rica provided them with temporary transit visas, but on Nov. 15, Nicaragua closed its border, where some 2,000 Cubans are currently stranded.