Cuba says migrants aboard US ship to be let back in country

Cuba says migrants aboard US ship to be let back in country
BY BEN FOX
Associated Press

A group of migrants from Cuba who had been stuck in a legal limbo aboard
a U.S. Coast Guard ship after they were detained at sea are being
allowed to return to their homeland, the Cuban government said Saturday.

The 38 migrants were among nearly 100 detained by the Coast Guard in
April and who would ordinarily have been quickly repatriated under an
agreement between the U.S. and Cuba intended to discourage risky sea
journeys by people seeking to reach the United States.

But a U.S. official said Cuban authorities had balked at accepting the
38 migrants, arguing they did not qualify as migrants in transit who
should be immediately repatriated because they had legally left their
country and obtained tourist visas from the Caribbean nation of St.
Lucia. The migrants were held on board the Coast Guard cutter Vigilant
until the situation could be resolved.

A resolution apparently came Saturday. A statement issued by the Cuban
Interests Section in Washington said Cuba's government notified the U.S.
it would allow the migrants to return even though they do not qualify
for repatriation under the terms of the 1995 agreement.

The Cuban government faulted U.S. immigration policy, which allows
migrants from Cuba to quickly become legal residents, and eventually
citizens, if they make it to U.S. soil but turns back those caught at
sea. The policy prompts many to try to reach third countries and find
alternate routes to avoid Coast Guard patrols.

The U.S. should end this "preferential policy," the Cuban government
said. "It is the principal stimulus to illegal migration from Cuba to
the United States and to the irregular entries of Cubans to U.S.
territories through third countries, undermining the commitment made by
both countries to promote legal, safe and orderly migration."

It was not immediately clear when the migrants on board the Vigilant
would be repatriated. A Coast Guard spokesman, Petty Officer Mark
Barney, declined to comment, citing the "open nature of the case."

The United States and Cuba are trying to wrap up an agreement in the
coming days for re-establishing embassies and posting ambassadors to
each other's capitals after a half-century interruption.

The biggest obstacle to restoring full diplomatic relations is almost
gone: the U.S. designation of Cuba as a state sponsor of terrorism.
President Barack Obama announced his intention last month to delist
Cuba, and the change will become effective May 29.

Source: Cuba says migrants aboard US ship to be let back in country |
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