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A12
WORLD NEWSSaturday 2 April 2016
Cuban migration to US skyrockets in late 2015
CHRISTINE ARMARIO
Associated Press
HAVANA (AP) — Nearly
twice as many Cuban mi-
grants reached the U.S.
by foot and sea in the last
three months of 2015 as in
the same period the year
earlier, the northbound ex-
odus swelling after the res-
toration of diplomatic rela-
tions and amid fears of the
loss of migration privileges.
Department of Homeland
Security figures show about
17,000 Cubans reached
the United States from Oc-
tober through December.
Slightly more than 9,200
Cuban migrants arrived
during the same months in
2014.
The surge has been driven
in part by Cubans’ fears
that warmer ties between
the governments, an-
nounced in December
2014, mean they could lose
privileges that now let them
stay in the United States if
they reach American soil —
a policy originally based on
the assumption those flee-
ing Cuba were largely po-
litical refugees.
The Obama administra-
tion says it doesn’t plan to
change U.S.-Cuba immi-
gration policy, but some
lawmakers want to end the
privileges for migrants from
the island.
Most of the Cuban migrants
are arriving at U.S. border
Falkland Islands:
Lawmakers reject Argentina’s claim to islands recent murders took place
The Associated Press
PORT STANLEY, Falkland Is-
lands (AP) — Lawmakers
in the far-flung Falkland Is-
lands are rejecting Argen-
tina’s claim that a recent
decision by a U.N. commis-
sion strengthens the South
American nation’s claim
over the archipelago.
Earlier this week, the Ar-
gentine government said
that the U.N. commission
on the limits of the conti-
nental shelf had sided with
Argentina in a dispute with
Great Britain going back
decades. The government
said the commission had
ratified a 2009 Argentine re-
port that fixed the limit of its ject of competing claims,”
territory at 200 to 350 miles
from its coast.
checkpoints in Texas af-
ter traveling by plane, bus
and foot through Central
America. More than 43,000
Cubans arrived in the U.S. in blocking the route to most
the 2015 fiscal year ending
in September.
A Cuban migrant’s feet rests on a pair of feet flip flops designed
with stars and stripes, while resting inside the public restroom of
the border control building in Penas Blancas, Costa Rica, border
with Nicaragua.
Hundreds of thousands of
Cubans have fled the is-
land since the 1959 revo-
lution, largely by plane
through family reunifica-
tion programs but also on
perilous, homemade rafts.
Three years ago, the com-
munist government did
away with a hated exit per-
mit, allowing many Cubans
to travel to countries such
as Ecuador and then make
a long, often dangerous,
trek through Central Amer-
On Monday, Argentine For-
eign Minister Susana Mal-
corra, previously chief of
staff to U.N. Secretary-Gen-
eral Ban Ki-moon, posted a
map on Twitter that showed
the islands included in Ar-
gentina’s continental shelf
territory.
Like with everything related
to the islands, even what
the extension of territory
would include is in dispute.
The report itself has not
been made public.
The U.N. “has agreed to
continental shelf extension
for Argentina in those ar-
eas north of the Falklands
Islands that are not the sub- jected Argentina’s claims
Mike Summers, one the
local legislative assembly
Latin Briefs
ica to the U.S. border with scholar, said he expects the
Texas. Ecuador began re- number of Cuban migrants
quiring visas for Cubans arriving through Central
late last year, effectively America to decline in the
months ahead, though he
would-be migrants. speculated those with fam-
Nicaragua began refus- ily in the U.S. will continue to it’s found an unmanned
find ways to get there.
He said repeal of the Cu-
ban Adjustment Act that
gives Cuban migrants privi-
leges over those from other
nations remains unlikely
(AP Photo/Esteban Felix) given the current election
year.
ing passage to Cuban mi- “They cannot deal with
grants in November, leav- the Cuban Adjustment Act
ing about 8,000 migrants without dealing with im-
stuck in Costa Rica. In migration reform, and no-
March, the last direct flight body wants to touch it,” he
carrying the stranded mi- said.
grants from Costa Rica ar- Despite renewed U.S.-Cu-
rived in Mexico. ba relations and economic
The latest statistics would reforms permitting certain
not yet reflect whether the small businesses, Cuba has
migration has decreased struggled to stem a tide of
in response to efforts to doctors, professionals and
clamp down on it. others who believe their
Andy Gomez, a retired best chance to advance
University of Miami Cuba economically is to leave.
Lazaro Borges, 26, a nurse
who said he earns about
$20 a month, said he’s cur-
rently working on plans to
leave the island. Friends in
Panama invited him to par-
ticipate in a religious gath-
ering. If all goes well, he
plans to stay.
“What I want more than
anything right now is to
leave,” he said. q
members that govern the ing, it adds more weight to
British Overseas Territory,
told The Associated Press Argentina’s contention.
during an interview on
Thursday. More than just bitter poli-
Summers added the deci-
sion “has no effect for the tics, sovereignty over the
sovereign position of the
Falklands.” islands could become very
In 1982, Argentina invad-
ed and was then routed important because of oil
by British troops. Saturday
marks the 34th anniversary exploration in the surround-
of the war. Friday night, Ar-
gentine veterans of the war ing waters.
planned to hold a vigil in
Buenos Aires. After Argentina’s an-
Islanders and the British
government have long re- nouncement, share prices
and refused to negotiate. of several oil companies
While the commission’s rec-
ommendation is non-bind- briefly dipped.
Argentine lawmakers
hailed what the decision
could mean for govern-
ment revenues.
On his Facebook page,
President Mauricio Mac-
ri said the extension will
“permit us to defend the
resources of our sea, prop-
erty of each and every
Argentine.”q
Dutch yacht found
off Colombia with
no one aboard: AP
BOGOTA, Colombia (AP)
— Colombia’s navy says
yacht and authorities are
trying to determine if two
bodies discovered floating
in the sea are those of two
Dutch citizens who were
aboard.
The navy statement says
the “Talagoa” was found
off San Andres Island along
with passports and other
documents of a Dutch
couple, whose names
were not released.
Vice Adm. Andres Vasquez
tells The Associated Press
that the lifeless bodies of a
man and woman aged 50
to 60 floated to the island
on Tuesday and officials
are trying to identify them.
The navy says the yacht
had left the Panamanian
port of Colon on March 25.
Vasquez said it didn’t
appear to have been
attacked.q
Colombia’s biggest
drug gang targets
security forces: AP
BOGOTA, Colombia (AP)
— Five members of Colom-
bia’s security forces have
been killed over 48 hours
by the country’s most-
powerful drug trafficking
gang.
Defense Minister Luis Car-
los Villegas says the most
Thursday when two police
officers were killed in Puer-
to Berrio.
The murders carried out by
the Usuga Clan took place
as businesses in a dozen
municipalities near the Gulf
of Uraba closed for fear of
reprisals after the arrest of
56 members of Colombia’s
bloodiest criminal gang.
Gang leader Dairo Anto-
nio Usaga is law enforce-
ment’s No. 1 target, but
he’s evaded capture de-
spite an intense manhunt
that has involved aerial
bombings of hideouts.
As Colombia’s half-century
conflict winds down, au-
thorities fear a rise in crimi-
nal activity in areas once
dominated by leftist rebels
and far-right paramilitaries.
q