Cuba denounces US migration policy

By Neysi Hernandez

HAVANA (AA) – The head of U.S. division at Cuba’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Josefina Vidal, on Tuesday denounced Washington’s migration policies and its effect the Caribbean island.

“Latin American asks #EEUU review # Cuba migration policy towards that affects its extraterritorial impact,” Vidal tweeted using the Spanish initials for the United States.

She also shared a letter sent to the U.S. by nine Latin American nations Monday that demanded Washington revise its immigration policy toward Latin America and the Caribbean.

The governments said Washington’s provisions constitute "a stimulus to the disorderly, irregular and insecure flow of Cuban citizens" into the United States.

Vidal said the foreign ministers of Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama and Peru sent a letter to U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, in which they called for a review of the Cuban Adjustment Act and the "Wet foot, Dry-foot" policy that allows Cuban migrants trying to reach the U.S. mainland to be returned to Cuba or a third nation but allows Cubans who make it to the U.S. to pursue legal residency.

Along with the safety of Cubans, U.S. policy affects the territorial sovereignty of the signatory nations, it added.

The migration policy has been a thorny issue as the two Cold War foes work to restore relations and ease restriction on trade, commerce, tourism and diplomacy.