No menu items!

COSTA RICA'S LEADING ENGLISH LANGUAGE NEWSPAPER

HomeTopicsGlobalEcuador requires Cubans get visas to dissuade them from using country as...

Ecuador requires Cubans get visas to dissuade them from using country as springboard to US

QUITO, Ecuador — Ecuador announced Wednesday that it will begin requiring visas for Cubans starting Dec. 1 in an attempt to dissuade Cuban migrants from using the country as a springboard for getting to the United States. The move is the latest in an ongoing diplomatic and humanitarian crisis in which several thousand Cuban migrants are marooned at the Costa Rica-Nicaragua border, hoping to continue their trip north.

Ecuador eliminated visas for all tourists in 2008, setting itself up as a staging ground for migrants from all over the world hoping to reach the U.S. But the recent backlog of Cuban migrants at Costa Rica’s northern border has brought Ecuador’s role into the limelight.

The Ecuadorian government “will require visas of Cuban citizens not because we have something against Cuba,” Deputy Foreign Minister Xavier Lasso said at a news conference Thursday. “On the contrary, you all know about our close and warm ties with the Cuban people.”

Lasso said the government made the decision in order to stop “human rights violations and the risk of losing lives” that comes with the illegal smuggling of Cubans through the Americas to the U.S.

Earlier this month, Costa Rican authorities broke up a human smuggling operation that transported mainly Cubans north through Central America.

The land route to the U.S. via Ecuador has become increasingly popular with Cuban migrants hoping to reach U.S. soil and gain residency under that country’s generous immigration policy for people leaving the Communist island. Cubans fly to Ecuador then travel by land and air up through South and Central America to the U.S.-Mexico border.

See also: ‘Dusty-foot’ Cubans forgo rafts, choose land route through Costa Rica

But a recent surge in Cuban migrants using this route has led to a diplomatic standoff in which many Latin American countries, led by Costa Rica, are pushing to create a “humanitarian corridor” for the migrants while Nicaragua, likely backed by its ally Cuba, refuses to participate.

Around 3,000 Cubans are currently camped out at Costa Rica’s northern border — most of them in government-supported shelters — hoping that Nicaragua will change its policy and let them through. On Nov. 15 the Nicaraguan military blocked a large group of Cubans trying to cross into the country at the Peñas Blancas border crossing, throwing tear gas into the crowd.

Costa Rica has provided the Cubans with temporary transit visas in the meantime.

Ecuador, for its part, seems to be trying to put the breaks on the Cuban exodus.

“When the situation becomes critical, for example, on the border between Costa Rica and Nicaragua, we have to act. We have to do something,” Lasso said. “And this is the decision the Ecuadorian government has taken: to require visas for Cuban citizens, as an exception, in order to dissuade this flow seeking to get to the United States.”

The diplomat said his government “lamented the incident between Costa Rica and Nicaragua” and said the government was putting the visa requirement in place for Cubans for 90 days. He emphasized that Ecuador’s migration policy “is not repressive” and that “we’re not closing the doors to Cuba.”

Costa Rica President Luis Guillermo Solís thanked Ecuador for the move in a statement on Thursday. He said additional measures to address the Cuban migrant crisis would be announced in the coming days.

Ecuador’s Lasso said his government didn’t have plans to require tourist visas from citizens of any other nationality for the time being.

The number of Cubans arriving in Ecuador has increased dramatically in recent years, Lasso said, from 753 Cubans in January 2014 to 2,502 in January 2015.

He said more than 40,000 Cubans had entered Ecuador since the country stopped requiring visas in 2008.

Trending Now

El Salvador Mobilized to Remove Invasive Plants from Lake Suchitlán

With mechanical shovels, barges, and by hand, hundreds of soldiers and artisanal fishers are working tirelessly this Friday to remove a floating plant that...

First Woman to Deliver Mexico’s Grito de Dolores Marks a Historic Moment

Claudia Sheinbaum will make history today by becoming the first woman to lead Mexico’s traditional Independence Day “Grito de Dolores” from the presidential balcony...

Stolen Costa Rican Antiquities Head Home After Manhattan Probe

Manhattan District Attorney Alvin L. Bragg, Jr., revealed the return of nine ancient artifacts to Costa Rica on Thursday. These items came from investigations...

Nicaragua Releases Prison Photos of Detained Doctor Amid US Demands

The government of Nicaragua published this Friday photographs in prison of a doctor with Costa Rican and Nicaraguan nationality, two days after the United...

Da Vinci Code author finds peace in Costa Rica while promoting new novel

Dan Brown, author of the famous novel The Da Vinci Code, which has sold more than 80 million copies, revealed that he lives in Costa...

Costa Rican President Rejects Immunity Vote, Says It’s a Judicial Coup

Costa Rican President Rodrigo Chaves announced that he will skip the congressional plenary session next Monday set to decide on stripping his immunity in...
spot_img
Costa Rica Coffee Maker Chorreador
Costa Rica Coffee Maker Chorreador
Costa Rica Travel Insurance
Costa Rica Rocking Chait
Costa Rica Travel

Latest News from Costa Rica