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MARIO J. TORRES
Migration II
(8) Late 80's -- Visa Lottery.
To control migration and the growing deaths in the Strait of Florida due to
the numerous and fragile boats crossing the rough sea towards the US, the
United States and Cuban Governments agreed to create a visa lottery through
which around two hundred thousand Cubans could travel legally to the United
States yearly in a legal way. So after the institution of this lottery, many
Cubans have become visa lottery winners and have traveled to the their
northern neighbor.
Features of This Migration:
(a) Cubans willing to leave have to fill out an entry application and mail
it to the Office of Interests of the United States in secret to avoid being
regarded as an antisocial element or lose their jobs because although this
is a legal agreement, retaliation in Cuba does not respect any legality.
(b) It is said that the government has been forced to burn thousands of
applications due to the millions of letters sent which would look like a
plebiscite.
(c) Winners, who get their notice in a yellow envelope by mail, (this color
became the favorite in those days and still is) are required to do lots of
arrangements before leaving, and the government charges them in dollars and
also in domestic currency for every single arrangement such as:
<> Physical medical exam - $400.00
<> Passport - $ 50.00
<> White card or permit to leave the country -- $150.00
<> Plane fare - $240.00
<> Airport stay over - $15.00
For a total of around - $ 850.00 dollars per individual.
Other arrangements with Cuban pesos' fees and which also represented
obstacles to make the departure more difficult are:
<> Declaration of cattle property - $ 10(Cuban) pesos
<> Declaration of land property - $10 pesos
<> Declaration of automotive vehicle possession - $ 10 pesos <> Declaration
of bank accounts - $ 35 pesos
<> Declaration of licences from the state for private work - $ 20 pesos
<> Criminal records - $ 25 pesos
<> Birth certificates - $ 30 pesos
<> Marriage certificates -- 15 pesos
And apart from all this, money is needed also to afford:
<> Trip to Havana expenses for the whole family.
<> Stay over in Havana for everyone
<> Buy food during the stay
<> Support the family if the job is lost longer before leaving
Doing all these procedures is real stressful and implies a lot of expenses,
basically in dollars in a country where workers are paid in pesos and where
the exchange rate is between twenty and thirty Cuban pesos for one dollar in
illegal exchange but also in the Official Exchange Booths of the government.
So, gathering eight hundred and fifty dollars together might mean having
that amount in pesos but multiplied by say, twenty-five. This is a very
tough task and the winning people need to have relatives or friends abroad
who can lend them or give them the money, and usually this is what happens:
Cubans borrow the money and usually arrive in the United States full of
debts due to these illogical, excessive, and abusive fees set by the
Communist government.
Some other people sell their property (which is illegal like many things in
Cuba) in order to have pesos to afford all the fees or to buy dollars.
(d) By law, lottery winners must leave all their property to the government;
and as a result of that, they must undergo a ridiculous inventory of all
their assets and property in their house from a spoon, a glass, a bulb, or a
plate up to and including beds, tables, television sets, or refrigerators
with a CDR member as a witness and if something is missing on departure day
when there is usually a second inventory, that person will not be allowed to
leave the country. The CDR is on the watch if something is sold illegally
because the state has to take everything for itself even though all could be
the person's legal property. Since no one is willing to leave his property
to the state, most people do not announce they are winners. They sell their
property in secret to get some money to afford final expenses and they may
have their way if they are not turned in by any squealer or CDR member
although in most cases, winners lose their jobs because they are not good
examples to society any more.
(e) In the case of professionals (doctors, teachers, dentists, engineers)
they are required to get a release letter from their National Ministries,
and this letter is turned in to Immigration so as to testify that the person
does not keep state secrets or is not indispensable in his job. Doctors,
political opposers, human rights activists, and citizens whom the government
thinks were betrayed by, are usually retained more time or given worse jobs
for punishment.
The amount of papers, requirements, conditions, fees, obstacles, and
arrangements to leave the country are endless and amazing and seem to have
been made up to punish immigrants and at the same time to collect money from
them. It is normal to see long lines of people at all immigration offices
due to the large number of population that wants to leave the island.
(f) One very important requirement and the only one requested by the United
States counterpart, is to attend an interview at the US Office of Interests
in Havana to be approved to travel or not. It is a great sacrifice for
people who live far away from Havana because since there is neither
transportation nor hotels available, so they have to pay high fares to
travel and to stay in Havana for their interview, which usually requests
evidence of educational level, working experience, relatives in the United
States, and history of criminal records.
Generally, families have to sell their television set, refrigerator or other
appliances if they have them, in order to afford the trip. If by chance they
are turned down for any reason, they are left without a job, sometimes
without a house, with no money, and they are under the open attack of
communists. So, all winners run a great risk from the beginning, and most of
them do not feel safe until they see the plane is in the air.
(g) When all the money is paid, all papers and signatures are in order, and
the person has been released by his Ministry, job, and Immigration Office.
Plane tickets are bought and then there comes the second inventory.
After that, the family is supposed to leave the house and wait two or three
days until the day of the flight. They have to stay at a hotel, at a
friend's or a relative's house or any place they can find because they
already lost all property, identity and status in the country. Finally, at
the airport, there is a total and final check up of papers and signatures;
and if everything is in order, the immigrant can get onto the plane and
breathe.
( to be continued)
MARIO J TORRES
FEBRUARY 2004
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