14ymedio, Miami, 13 May 2017 – The Canadian government has responded to a request for refuge made by the Democracy Movement on behalf of thousands of Cubans who were stranded at several locations in the Americas after the decision by the United States last January to end the wet foot/dry foot policy.
The response letter, released this Friday by the president of that Cuban exile movement in Miami, Ramon Saul Sanchez, assures that the petition has been carefully reviewed and forwarded to the Minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship, Ahmed Hussen, for his consideration.
On February 1, the Democracy Movement had asked the Canadian government to welcome thousands of Cubans who were stranded in Mexico and Central and South America after the sudden cancellation of the wet foot/dry foot policy that used to allow them to enter as refugees upon reaching U.S. soil.
Canada each year offers thousands of refugee visas to people who suffer persecution on the basis of politics, race, religion, nationality or gender.
Since January of this year, the Democracy Movement, together with other groups from Cuban civil society in the United States, have been organizing food shipments for their compatriots stalled in Mexico.
Translated by Mary Lou Keel
