Central American nations announce deal on Cuban migrants

Pope Francis delivers his blessing during the Angelus prayer, from his window overlooking St. Peter’s Square at the Vatican on Sunday.

Pope Francis has issued an appeal on behalf of Cuban migrants stranded in Central America.

Migration is likely to be a major theme of Pope Francis’s visit to Mexico on February 12-18. Ciudad Juarez, a Mexican city on the border with the United States was listed among the trip’s four stops.

Last week, the Nicaraguan government suggested that the US government arrange an airlift to transport the migrants directly from Costa Rica to the USA, the news outlet added.

The meeting is the second of technical nature held by the parties, after the one that took place on December 22 with similar objectives in Mexico, where this country ratified that would allow the passage of almost 8,000 Cubans only if the government of Enrique Peña Nieto guarantees the opening of its borders to them. He said the number of Cubans stuck in the isolated town, prevented from travelling on to Costa Rica, had swollen to 602 by Thursday.

The U.S. representative also clarified that U.S. law requires acceptance of the Cuban migrants if they reach U.S. territory by land (the so-called “wet foot/dry foot” policy), but it not would be possible to receive them directly by plane, because this would require all visa requirements to be met.

Cuban immigration bound for the United States soared in 2015, following a thaw in US-Cuban relations initiated a year ago.

Guatemala and Belize have a similar position on the matter, while El Salvador and Honduras support Costa Rica’s persistence on letting Cuban migrants seek their destination, the United States.

Earlier this month, Costa Rican Foreign Minister Manuel Gonzalez said that his country will continue diplomatic efforts “with the aim of helping these migrants transit on Central American soil”, urging Colombia, Ecuador, and Panama to put more efforts to hamper the surge of migrants heading to Costa Rica, a separate report from Reuters stated.