“The objective of the new Migration Law is to ensure that Cubans find prosperity in Cuba”
14ymedio, Havana, 21 September 2024 — Despite the impression of “frank dialogue” with emigration that Cuba’s Foreign Ministry wants to give, those who attended the fifth meeting of this type organized by the Cuban Consulate in the United States, this Saturday in New York, did so with their backs to the cameras. Very few are willing to show their faces after, in past years, they were criticized for their approach – for economic reasons, in most cases – to the regime.
The focus was on the new laws that affect emigrants – those of Foreigners, Citizenship and Migration, approved by Parliament but not yet published in the Official Gazette – whose content was described by Colonel Mario Méndez, a high official of the Ministry of the Interior, dressed in civilian clothes. The director of Consular Affairs of the Foreign Ministry, Ana González Fraga, quoted at length what President Miguel Díaz-Canel thought about emigrants. She reminded them that, despite their living with the “enemy,” the Government “waits for their return” and applauds their “triumphs.”
She celebrated the migrants related to the Government who have sent “food donations” this year and have made “pronouncements” against the embargo, in addition to participating in “caravans” in support of the regime. These are “challenging moments for the nation,” he said, in which the Government “infinitely” values any “solidarity contribution.”
The diplomats celebrated that emigrants related to the Government have sent “food donations” this year
“All those who want to contribute are welcome,” Fraga said and began shouting slogans against the blockade, which the attendees chanted en masse. Only at the end of her speech – recorded from a cell phone and transmitted on the official profile Nation and Emigration, are some of the faces of the attendees seen, applauding the official.
The meeting was also attended by the Cuban Foreign Minister, Bruno Rodríguez, who in a brief post on X reported his attendance and said he was “happy” with what was discussed there. In addition, other senior officials of the Foreign Ministry, such as Carlos Fernández de Cossío, took the floor during the meeting.
Fernández de Cossío’s intervention left a phrase that the Cuban Consulate in New York – headquarters of the event – underlined: “The objective of the new Migration Law is to ensure that Cubans find prosperity in Cuba.” The reality of the country, hit by blackouts and shortages, is diametrically opposite.
Both in Havana and in Washington or New York, the regime has been organizing meetings for several years with those who are willing to be invited
Both in Havana and in Washington or New York, the regime has been organizing meetings for several years with those who are willing to be invited. They are, according to exiled opponents, old agents planted by the Government in the United States or businessmen who, despite their departure from Cuba – the typical case is the tycoon Hugo Cancio – consider it appropriate to invest in businesses on the Island.
Last November, while the country was going through one of the worst moments of the migration crisis, Havana carried out a large logistical deployment to receive dozens of emigrants. The conference La Nación y la Emigración – the binomial that the regime coined to allude to those who left – aimed to achieve greater investment in the country through SMSEs.
After a flourishing of small and medium-sized enterprises, the Government has been putting a stop to initiatives and increasing control for months. This Saturday’s meeting in New York, along the same lines, was limited to discussing the consequences of the new laws, but left the interest in investing in the background.
The first edition of this kind of conferences took place in 1978. The official press remembered that date again last month, with a long reflection by the regime’s spokesman Elier Ramírez Cañedo.
The conversation with Cubans living in the United States has become a habit every time a senior Cuban official visits the US capital or goes to the United Nations headquarters. The objective: not to lose sight of and to “forge ties” with those in tune with the regime within the Cuban community in the United States. Havana considers them “a priority,” Fernández de Cossío said last April.
Translated by Regina Anavy
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