Cuba denounces US encouragement of irregular emigration

HAVANA, Cuba, Nov 2 (ACN) Cuban authorities denounced that by keeping in force the Cuban Adjustment Act and the tightened economic, commercial and financial blockade, the U.S. government is fostering the irregular emigration of the island's citizens, at a high human cost.

Speaking on Tuesday on the television program Mesa Redonda, the head of department of the Directorate of Border Troops of the Ministry of the Interior (MININT), Lieutenant Colonel Imandra Oceguera Cull, said that illegal emigration is carried out by speedboats from abroad, in private fishing boats or in rustic means.

She pointed out that sometimes these vessels do not comply with the minimum conditions for navigation or for the protection of human life at sea, and their crews often lack means of rescue, communications or signaling.

In the case of human trafficking operations, Oceguera Cull explained that they occur at night, in inhospitable places, with overloaded boats traveling at high speeds.

Those individuals dedicated to this activity try to crash the boats of the border guard troops, throw objects, tanks, and even, this year, on two occasions have used firearms to attack the crew of the surface units, she underlined.

The border troops, the officer added, act in all circumstances under the principle of the preservation of human life, and so far this year, they have saved 2,085 people, 121 of them in seven cases of human trafficking.

Regarding the maritime accident near Bahia Honda(western Cuba), the head of department of the Directorate of Border Guard Troops deeply mourned the loss of human lives, and assured that as part of the work of this body of the MININT, a rigorous investigation is being carried out to fully clarify the facts, the results of which will be reported in due course.

Laura Pujol Torres, deputy general director of Consular Affairs and Cubans Living Abroad of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs ( MINREX by its Spanish acronym), affirmed that there is evidence of a tightening of the U.S. sanctions against the Caribbean nation, which, along with the international crisis, worsened the living conditions of Cubans.

In addition, she pointed out that a group of measures were implemented specifically aimed at limiting the legal migratory flow from Cuba to the North American country, and the option of irregularity has been conditioned to the citizens of the island, with the aim of creating a politicized campaign in this regard.

MINREX official emphasized that the Cuban Adjustment Act irresponsibly stimulates this type of facts and hinders any action that, on the other hand, the authorities may have to mitigate these issues of irregular migration.

Cuban foreign minister maintains interest in the migration talks, and has shown concern about the issue in meetings with Mexico, Panama, Bolivia, Chile, Belize, Uruguay, Argentina and also with the United States, Pujol Torres concluded.