Cuban migrants' American dream in peril

Cuban migrants' American dream in peril

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Cubans have been rushing to the United States amid fears the recent rapprochement between Havana and Washington could end preferential U.S. policies for Cuban migrants.

While migrants from across Latin America struggle to get green cards and many live illegally in the United States, fearful of deportation, Cubans receive residency with ease under the U.S. Cuban Adjustment Act of 1996.

. Penas Blancas, COSTA RICA. Reuters/Oswaldo Rivas

When Cuban migrant Lenin Rivacoba recently slept rough on Costa Rica’s border with Nicaragua, he was briefly blinded by tear gas, lost hearing in one ear and almost ran out of money.

But Rivacoba, whose first name was in honour of Soviet revolutionary Vladimir Lenin, says he would rather perish than return to his family in Cuba because it would mean giving up on the dream of a new life in the United States.

"It's get there, or die," said Rivacoba, a 30-year-old teacher and father of two whose grandmother sold her house for $5,000 to pay for his passage to the United States. "I can't return. They're waiting for me to start sending money back."

. Liberia, Costa Rica. Reuters/Juan Carlos Ulate
Cuban migrants have breakfast at a shelter in Costa Rica.

Along with over 1,000 tired but determined Cubans, Rivacoba was stranded since Nicaragua's leftist government, a close ally of Cuba, refused to let them cross the border.

Blocking traffic at the border in a bid to force Nicaragua to relent, many of the Cuban migrants said they sold their belongings to make the journey and that there can be no turning back.

. Penas Blancas, Costa Rica. Reuters/Juan Carlos Ulate

From babies to grandparents, blacks to whites, they have turned the Penas Blancas border station into a temporary shelter with makeshift beds, piles of luggage and improvised washing lines. Hundreds of others have been housed in buildings around the small town of La Cruz nearby.

. La Cruz, Costa Rica. Reuters/Juan Carlos Ulate

Since U.S.-Cuban ties began to thaw in December, the number of Cubans heading through Central America has surged.

According to U.S. Customs and Border Patrol data published by the Pew Research Center, 27,296 Cubans entered the United States in the first nine months of the 2015 fiscal year, up 78 percent from the same period a year earlier.

Two-thirds arrived through the Border Patrol's Laredo sector in Texas, though the number arriving mostly by sea to the Miami sector also surged, more than doubling from the previous year to over 7,000, the figures showed.

. Guna Yala, PANAMA. Reuters/Carlos Jasso
Cuban migrants help a child as they cross the border from Colombia into Panama.

The vast majority at the Nicaraguan border say they flew from Cuba to Ecuador and then started the trek north through Central America. A few said they had crossed the Caribbean to Venezuela via Trinidad and Tobago.

All of them said they left Cuba to improve their economic lot, and a substantial number were also worried the U.S. "wet foot, dry foot" policy could soon end.

. Guna Yala, PANAMA. Reuters/Carlos Jasso

"People say it's going to change in January," said Yahumara Ramirez, a 39-year-old nurse who was deported back to Cuba in 2013, when she first tried to reach the United States.

Under the policy, Cubans who set foot on U.S. soil can stay, while those captured at sea are sent back.

Cuba's Communist government has blamed U.S. Cold War-era immigration legislation for the migrant crisis, but U.S. officials have repeatedly said there are no plans to change it.

. Guna Yala, PANAMA. Reuters/Carlos Jasso
A resident points to a list showing a two-week wait for onward travel by plane.

Many of the stranded Cubans have followed a route snaking from the Colombian city of Ipiales, through Cali and Medellin and into Panama via Puerto Obaldia.

The Colombian section has become notorious, with tales widespread of extortion by both police and coyotes - the smugglers used by migrants to evade authorities.

. La Cruz, Costa Rica. Reuters/Juan Carlos Ulate

Alberto Perez, a 24-year-old aspiring actor, said he had to pay officials bribes of $20 or more 18 times crossing Colombia.

"They say it's for 'collaboration'," he said wryly, adding that police patrols would radio on ahead to colleagues to alert them when Cubans were coming.

. Guna Yala, PANAMA. Reuters/Carlos Jasso

Fellow migrant Johannes Burgos, 26, said he and 12 others were forced to pay $1,500 each to a group of coyotes who threatened them as they were entering Panama.

The migrants said Panama and Costa Rica treated them well, but they cursed Nicaragua, whose President Daniel Ortega has been an ally of Cuba's government since the Cold War era, for closing its border.

Nicaragua was still open to migrants earlier in November. But Costa Rica's temporary closure of its border with Panama after the bust of a human trafficking ring unleashed a surge northward when it was reopened in the middle of the month.

. Penas Blancas, Costa Rica. Reuters/Oswaldo Rivas
The feet of a Cuban migrant are seen in front of policemen at the Costa Rica-Nicaragua border.

Nicaragua responded by sealing the border with troops.

Frustrated Cubans staged protests at the crossing, with trucks stretching back more than 4 km into Costa Rica.

Costa Rica has called for a regional summit to create a corridor to let the Cubans pass, arguing they will otherwise fall into the hands of smuggling gangs.

Rivacoba and hundreds of others had already crossed some 5 km into Nicaragua when police appeared and abruptly forced them back using tear gas, he said.

For all the frustration over Nicaragua, most of the Cubans' anger is aimed at the Cuban government, which they accuse of cronyism, mismanaging the economy and limiting free speech.

. Liberia, Costa Rica. Reuters/Juan Carlos Ulate

Fanning his 10-month-old son with a towel in the stifling heat of a Red Cross border shelter, Yordanis Boza said even if detente between the United States and Cuba helps the economy, it would not happen fast enough for his wife and two children.

"If you work for a year in the United States it's like working for 10 years in Cuba, or more," the 28-year-old said.

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Slideshow

Cuban migrants camp at sunset in La Miel.
. Guna Yala, PANAMA. Reuters/Carlos Jasso

Cuban migrants camp at sunset in La Miel.

Cuban migrants cook dinner at their provisional camp at sunset in La Miel.
. Guna Yala, PANAMA. Reuters/Carlos Jasso

Cuban migrants cook dinner at their provisional camp at sunset in La Miel.

Cuban migrant Yamilen Arbelo, 40, (left) hugs her son and a friend after she crossed the border from Colombia through the jungle into La Miel.
. Guna Yala, PANAMA. Reuters/Carlos Jasso

Cuban migrant Yamilen Arbelo, 40, (left) hugs her son and a friend after she crossed the border from Colombia through the jungle into La Miel.

A tourist walks past Cuban migrants’ wet clothes.
. Guna Yala, PANAMA. Reuters/Carlos Jasso

A tourist walks past Cuban migrants’ wet clothes.

A Cuban migrant drinks water after crossing the border from Colombia.
. Guna Yala, PANAMA. Reuters/Carlos Jasso

A Cuban migrant drinks water after crossing the border from Colombia.

Cuban migrants stand as they wait for instructions from local authorities in Puerto Obaldia.
. Guna Yala, PANAMA. Reuters/Carlos Jasso

Cuban migrants stand as they wait for instructions from local authorities in Puerto Obaldia.

Cuban migrants sleep outside a house in Puerto Obaldia as they wait to continue their journey north.
. Guna Yala, PANAMA. Reuters/Carlos Jasso

Cuban migrants sleep outside a house in Puerto Obaldia as they wait to continue their journey north.

Yeryko, the 10-month-old son of Cuban migrants, sleeps on a mattress in a shelter.
. Liberia, Costa Rica. Reuters/Juan Carlos Ulate

Yeryko, the 10-month-old son of Cuban migrants, sleeps on a mattress in a shelter.

A Cuban migrant sits with her daughter in Puerto Obaldia.
. Guna Yala, PANAMA. Reuters/Carlos Jasso

A Cuban migrant sits with her daughter in Puerto Obaldia.

Cuban migrants stand in line for breakfast at a shelter.
. La Cruz, Costa Rica. Reuters/Juan Carlos Ulate

Cuban migrants stand in line for breakfast at a shelter.

A Cuban migrant trims the beard of a fellow migrant at the border between Costa Rica and Nicaragua.
. Penas Blancas, COSTA RICA. Reuters/Oswaldo Rivas

A Cuban migrant trims the beard of a fellow migrant at the border between Costa Rica and Nicaragua.

A Cuban migrant takes a shower at the border between Costa Rica and Nicaragua.
. Penas Blancas, COSTA RICA. Reuters/Oswaldo Rivas

A Cuban migrant takes a shower at the border between Costa Rica and Nicaragua.

Cuban migrants use their cell phones in a bathroom on the border between Costa Rica and Nicaragua.
. Penas Blancas, Costa Rica. Reuters/Juan Carlos Ulate

Cuban migrants use their cell phones in a bathroom on the border between Costa Rica and Nicaragua.

A Cuban migrant looks at her mobile phone while camping outside the men's bathroom at the immigration office on the border between Costa Rica and Nicaragua.
. Penas Blancas, Costa Rica. Reuters/Juan Carlos Ulate

A Cuban migrant looks at her mobile phone while camping outside the men's bathroom at the immigration office on the border between Costa Rica and Nicaragua.

Cuban migrants play a "Monopolio" board game at a temporary shelter.
. La Cruz, COSTA RICA. Reuters/Oswaldo Rivas

Cuban migrants play a "Monopolio" board game at a temporary shelter.