The Painful Silence on the Cubans Stuck in Costa Rica
Rosa Martinez
HAVANA TIMES – The situation of nearly two thousand Cubans who are stranded in Costa Rican territory is not news to virtually anyone.
The images of young children, pregnant women and not so young people fleeing the abuse of the Nicaraguan police have been around the world.
If anybody is unaware of what happened they are precisely those who live on the island, those who should be the best informed, who should now be marching, shouting or asking for a better deal for those who may be a relative, a former classmate or co-worker, a neighbor or an acquaintance.
Those rejected by the government of Daniel Ortega are not criminals. They include engineers, teachers, doctors, housewives, carpenters, dancers and students… they are ordinary people with the same dreams and the same hope for a better life in the United States.
It’s not worth talking about whose to blame, but if I did, I would have put my name first on the list, also yours, the person next door and many more, for observing the events in silence.
Socialists are also looking for a handout. Nicaragua will relent and Cubans will be given safe passage. Mark your calendar.
SO what would happen then to prevent the constant flow of state sponsored human trafficking in the future if Nicaragua relents?? Nicaragua does not have to relent, and you do not realize that Nicaragua and Costa Rica long have had spats. Moreover Nicaragua is far safer than the neighbors FOR A REASON. Not allowing Human trafficking is one of them, which is the incident that sparked this crisis. (Trafficker of these Cubans arrested on or about Nov 10th). Costa Rica started this crisis when they held all the Cubans on the border with Panama for 3 days, so why not talk about that, and ONLY blame Nicaragua. There are ports and Costa Rica can pay to ship them to Honduras, or Guatemala where right wing governments are in charge. They created this mess. Nicaragua is just defending their borders and enforcing their laws which require a visa BEFORE you get to the border, not a visa upon arrival. Then again Nicaragua can relent, for a fee.
I recall in the US republicans were stating they feared that Daesh and Syrians would use the same exact Corridor that Ortega is now blocking. So why is it ok to let other people use the same corridor due to an outdated US law that needs to be reformed. What about the situation in Honduras, far more dangerous and violent than Cuba. They get deported or put in detention centers. They do not get their asylum.
The problem of all this is that allowing them free passage into the U.S. is not going to solve the problem. This will only make many more thousands do the same thing. All the while the “coyotes” among other criminal organizations of human smugglers will continue to prosper. Also the Castro regime will only benefit from all this cause this is just another escape valve that will keep them in power forever. The U.S. has its own economic problems and its economy is incapable of providing enough jobs with living wages. What we are doing here is increasing the poverty level in this country, especially in the greater Miami Area where at least 90% of this people will be coming. The change has to come within Cuba and exporting the problem is not the solution. The Cuban government has to be pressured by the international community to allow free elections that will bring about changes that will put an end to all this absurdity.
I see some coverage of this in both Spanish language and English language Granma, although I haven’t seen any pictures.
What is to become of these Cubans? Will Costa Rica send them packing back to Cuba? Not likely. Will Cuba send planes or a boat to bring them back. Again, not likely. So the only realistic outcome is that Nicaragua relents and allows them safe passage north. My Cuban family in Guantanamo knew nothing of this. When I told them, they were aware of a handful of friends who could quite possibly be among the 2000. The reality is that there are many tens of thousands of Cubans in South America who could possibly be among this group so it is impossible to know if a friend or loved one is included unless they have contacted you and said so. I also know for a fact that President Ortega, despite his differences with the Castros, would not have authorized this action without the permission of the Castros. How sick is that? To allow your own people to be treated like this?