Cuban Americans with permanent residence in Cuba are left stranded after travel ban
Thousands of Cuban-Americans had acquired permanent residence in Cuba through a process known as repatriation, hoping to recover rights such as the inheritance of property or benefit from the public health system.
But their decision could now leave them stranded on the island amid a pandemic that could last for several months.
As of Tuesday, the government banned the entry of tourists and travelers, only allowing Cubans -- and foreigners residing in Cuba -- to return home, in an effort to contain the spread of the coronavirus. Cuban “residents” cannot leave the country, a measure the government took to protect “their health, and that of their relatives ... and neighbors,” Cuban Prime Minister Manuel Marrero said Monday.
Repatriated Cuban Americans who didn’t leave the island before Tuesday suddenly found themselves in limbo.
That’s what happened Wednesday morning to the father of Angela Kim, a 77-year-old American citizen born in Cuba, who has been on the island since January.
“I am at the airport, I cannot travel,” said the man in a voice message in English sent to his daughter and provided to the Herald.
“I guess I am being arrested, I don’t know. There are about 15 people, American citizens that they are not allowing to leave the country,” he said.
Cuban immigration authorities did not allow him to board an American Airlines flight in the morning bound for Miami. Kim said that his father, whose name she asked not to disclose, was not arrested and was allowed to travel back to Cárdenas, Matanzas, where he has family, her father told her in a later call.
Several passengers who managed to return from Havana to Miami on Wednesday around noon confirmed to local TV station Telemundo 51 that the authorities had not allowed the repatriated Cubans to board the flight.
Martha Pantin, a spokesperson for American Airlines, declined to comment and directed questions to Cuban immigration authorities. Neither the Cuban embassy in Washington nor the Ministry of Foreign Relations responded to emails sent by the Herald. The embassy’s phone line appears to be disconnected.
Like Kim’s father, many repatriated Cuban-Americans travel back and forth but do not live most of the year in Cuba. The reasons for applying for permanent residence in Cuba are many, including the possibility of inheriting or selling a house, receiving medical treatment, or spending more time with family.
But since they are legally considered as permanent Cuban residents, they are also subject to orders from the Cuban government, even if they have dual citizenship, as the U.S. embassy in Havana warns.
“Cuba does not recognize the American nationality of Cuban-born US citizens,” the embassy posted on Twitter on Wednesday. “The Cuban government requires Cuban citizens with dual nationality to enter and leave Cuba using Cuban passports.”
The embassy said it is providing emergency services to help Americans on the island return to the United States, but warned that “Cuban-born U.S. citizens will be treated as Cuban citizens and may be subject to restrictions and obligations.”
Since Cuba made changes to its immigration laws in 2013, more than 57,000 Cubans abroad, including 36,000 living in the United States, have requested repatriation, a government official said in January this year.
Follow Nora Gámez Torres on Twitter: @ngameztorres
