Havana, January 12 (RHC)--One year after the signing of a US-Cuba Joint Declaration on Migration there has been an important decrease of illegal arrivals of Cuban citizens in the US, notes Granma newspaper.
The new agreement removed the commonly known "dry feet-wet feet" policy and the provisional admission program (parole) for Cuban health professionals, which Washington applied in third countries.
According to US State Department data quoted by Granma, from January 12 through September 2017, only 2,057 Cubans reached US territory without visas, primarily through the Mexican border, and there was a 64% reduction of the overall migration from Cuba to the US with respect to Fiscal Year 2016.
Likewise, the number of irregular migrants intercepted at sea decreased by 71%.
The article notes that the Cuban government is committed to the fulfilment of the agreement and has adopted all necessary measures to deter illegal exits from the island, combat illegal trafficking of people and document fraud, while it has kept close coordination with its US and other neighboring countries counterparts.
Granma notes, however, that the current policies of the Trump Administration, that have included the withdrawal of a substantial amount of its staff in its Havana Embassy, pose serious challenges to the implementation of the Joint Declaration, that may have negative implications for the security of both countries.
