Cuba's Deputy Foreign Minister Carlos Fernandez de Cossio denounced the United States' long-standing migration policies as a deliberate tool of political destabilization, while rejecting the Trump administration's proposed mass deportations as "unrealistic and unfair."
In an exclusive interview with China Media Group (CMG), the veteran diplomat, who has led Cuba's delegation in bilateral migration talks with the U.S., characterized the recent exodus of Cubans to the U.S. as primarily economically driven, exacerbated by America's selective enticements.
The deputy minister presented a historical indictment of U.S. strategy over the past six decades.
"The U.S. has used migration, historically, for several decades, as an instrument of destabilization against Cuba, and it's a reality of developing countries of people who want to migrate to the North to more developed countries. But what's peculiar and singular in the case of Cuba, which is unique, is that you have the combination of a policy of the United States, of course, of economic measures, which call the economic blockade, which depresses the living standards of the population, makes life economically difficult for them, which pushes them to migrate, and at same time a flexible and privileged treatment once they reach the border by whatever means. If you add to that legislation the 'Cuban Adjustment Act,' which allows Cubans, the sole citizens of any countries in the world that, within a year can become residents in the United States," he said.
Regarding Trump's deportation threats, Fernandez de Cossio was unequivocal.
"Mass deportation is not within the agreements, and we have expressed to the U.S. government, and we have expressed publicly, that it is unrealistic to believe that there can be, and should be, a mass deportation of Cubans. And it is also unfair to do so. These people have made their life in the United States, they have jobs, they have property, they have family in the U.S.; so it's very unfair to try to deport them massively back to Cuba," he said.
Cuban deputy FM denounces US migration policies as political tool
