Cuba Still on US Trafficking Blacklist

HAVANA TIMES, June 17 – The U.S. Department of State kept Cuba on the list of 17 countries in the world that do not comply with the minimum parameters of the fight against human trafficking, reported IPS on Wednesday.

The State Department report affirms that the island is a source of trafficking with minors and women with the aim of sexually exploiting them.

Nonetheless, the Obama administration continues to enforce the so-called wet-foot, dry-foot law allowing any Cuban reaching US soil to have a red carpet path to permanent residency.

The law, Cuba notes, has led many persons (rafters) to take to the high seas in rickety vessels in search of the American dream. Some fall victim to sharks or dehydration while others are picked up by the US Coast Guard, which returns them to Cuba.

Much human trafficking from Cuba originates from traffickers based in Florida or Mexico, often connected to the powerful Miami exile organizations that are permitted to carry out a host of illegal activities on US soil as long as “Castro’s communist dictatorship” is the recipient.