Latest U.S.-Cuba Bilateral Migration Dialogue 

On December 4, the U.S. and Cuba held its latest bilateral dialogue about migration, this time in Havana.

The short statement about this meeting from the U.S. Embassy in Havana said the following:[1]

• The meeting was to “review implementation of the U.S.-Cuba Migration Agreements, a series of bilateral agreements dating back to 1984. This was the second of two scheduled bilateral meetings on migration in 2024, reflecting the United States’ commitment to safe, legal, and orderly migration. The U.S. delegation was led by Eric Jacobstein, Deputy Assistant Secretary for Western Hemisphere Affairs, while the Cuban delegation was led by Vice Foreign Minister Carlos Fernández de Cossío.”
• “The U.S. delegation addressed key issues related to collaboration on migration procedures and highlighted the challenges to achieving the goals of the Agreements. During the talks, the United States raised issues of interest to the Cuban government, including facilitating family reunification, discouraging irregular migration, and improving respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms in Cuba.”

A more fulsome account appeared in Diario de Cuba that focused on comments by Fernandez de Cossio, the Cuban official at the meeting. He said that Cuba “expressed its willingness to consolidate and expand bilateral cooperation on migration issues with the United States” and that this meeting “responds to the mutual commitment to try to guarantee that migration between Cuba and the United States is safe, orderly and regular.” [2]

Cossio also made the following comments:

• “Cuba reiterated its willingness to comply with the commitments it has assumed and is demanding a similar commitment from the United States to comply with the agreements” and that the agreements were “comprehensive” and fulfilled on the basis of reciprocity.”
• [E]migrants from the island who go to the US “do so motivated by two fundamental causes: the privileged treatment that the US has always granted to any Cuban who tries to enter that country by any means, whether regular or irregular, which is called a pull factor; but there is also a push factor, which is a policy of economic blockade aimed at depressing the living standards of Cubans living in Cuba.”
• “This combination of factors poses a fundamental contradiction to the purposes of these agreements and to the mutual commitment to ensure that migration is regular, orderly and safe.”
• The “Cuban government insisted on the need to fully resume the provision of consular services at the U.S. Embassy in Havana for those applying for nonimmigrant visas, which, although partially resumed in August for certain categories, has not yet recovered to the level it had before. We have argued that this is a fact or that encourages many people to want to emigrate to obtain residency and be able to travel between the two countries, something that would not be necessary if multiple visas existed and if citizens who visit were processed from Havana.”
• “Also, those who have been admitted to the United States but have not been granted a specific legal status. For us, that is an important issue.”
• “We point out the aggressive treatment that has been taking place for several months in US airports against Cubans residing in Cuba, Cubans residing in the US or in third countries when they travel to the US,”
• “We believe that for two countries like Cuba and the United States, with geographical proximity and a considerable flow of travelers, plus a large presence of Cubans in North American territory, it is important that both governments maintain cooperation on migration issues,”

========================

[1]  US Embassy Havana, Bi-Annual Dialogue on Migration between the United States and Cuba in Havana, Cuba (Dec. 4, 2024).

[2] US calls on Havana to ‘improve respect for human rights’ in new bilateral migration dialogue,, Diario de Cuba (Dec.5, 2024).