A NEW ROUTE TO FREEDOM?
HAVANA
TO QUITO BY AIR, TO COLOMBIA BY LAND, ON TO DARIEN GAP OR SEA FROM TURBO,
COLOMBIA TO PANAMA, OVERLAND TO MEXICO AND APPLY FOR ASYLUM AT THE BORDER
CROSSING AND YOUR RELATIVES PICK YOU UP
This
is the latest of the routes of Economic Refugees from Cuba to the USA.. but
already the others have gotten hold of this news and Pakistanis and
Bangladeshis are paying up to 7000 dollars to undertake this arduous journey.
Wall
Street Journal recently interviewed, a Cuban husband/wife, Yamil Gonzalez 45 years
old and Yalile Alfonso, 47, as they arrived on Panamanian coastal village,
smuggled from Turbo, Colombia. That five hour ride cost 700 dollars each.
In
Cuba, we have nothing, so we have to do this, said the wife.
There
is something wrong with this picture!
If
they had nothing in Cuba, how did they pay for the two passports, at 200 dollars each? One way ticket to Ecuador (which has now abolished visa free travel for Cubans,
Pakistanis, Indians and Bangladeshis) for two 800 dollars, passage from Ecuador
to Colombia, food and lodgings, and ferry charges, i.e. close to 4000 dollars
for the two of them! For people who have “nothing” in Cuba this is a lot of
money.
In
fact it is a lot of money for anyone, Cuban or Bangladeshi or Pakistani or
Indian.. not to mention Americans. NYT 30 May 2015
Paul
Krugman wrote, The Insecure American, in which he quotes a startling statistic:
from the Study on the well being of US households, conducted by Federal Reserve:
47 per cent of Americans interviewed said that they would not have the
resources to meet an expected expense of $400!
Imagine, just four hundred dollars..
And
the Cuban couple from a country which they said had “nothing” could come up
with ten times that amount! WSJ continues: the couple was well prepared,
passports, detailed plans of buses to the border and the knowledge of US Asylum
Laws!
It
does not matter how they got that money, most possibly from Miami? Just imagine
what an industrious Cuban couple with innovative minds and hardworking can
accomplish with 4000 dollars in Cuba? They can start a business, and if they
have a good business plan, can repay the debt in matter of months.
I
am in awe of a lady in her retirement with money borrowed from her relatives in
Miami, bought an ice cream machine and set it up in the veranda of her house
in Ayersterran and sold good quality cones of ice cream for 3 Cuban pesos each
and within months was able to pay back her loans and afford a comfortable life
in Cuba as well as employ two other workers! Medicare or Medicaid or Food
Stamps or Cellular phones for Cubans or the 140 million dollars the US Government
spends each year to support the Cubans who arrive in the USA illegally, all
that is far from her mind. She is a decent hard working lady, who has everything
she needs in Cuba, she does not have to migrate to the USA whether by plane or
via Darien Gap.
For
Cuban, it is the lure of Miami, the pull factor that overrides the economic
reality of Cuba, the push factor. When I was living in Jamaica, a survey
published detailed that nearly fifty per cent of the population would like to immigrate
to the USA if given the chance. Such figures are repeated in Honduras,
Guatemala and scores of other countries in this hemisphere alone. The bright
lights of Miami, stories of economic flush, at times falsely conveyed by
relatives, that is the attraction and not the desire to work or enterprise that
attracted this couple to the shore. Such human trafficking is aided and abetted
by the Cuban relatives living in Miami.
The
days of Cubans arriving in the USA for political reasons is long over, now they
are like Bangladeshis or Pakistanis who are seeking an economic opportunity.
Cubans like everyone else should be given the choice to apply for asylum and if
found to be economic refugees (which is usually the case), the USA government
has reasons to send them back. Like they do with Pakistanis and Bangladeshis or
Haitians or Jamaicans nearer home.. What is good for the goose is also good for
the gander..
Among
those who did and continue to do so via Ecuador (No visa , the policy recently
changed) or entering from Brazil (easy to get a tourist visa) are
Somali
Pakistani
Chinese
But
the majority is Cubans.
A
Pakistani man said he had paid 7000 dollars for him to be deposited in
Panamanian soil, so that he can continue northwards to USA.. That amount was
raised by his family and paid to the people smugglers
So,
should USA (which generously is offering to resettle Rohingya minority from
Burma, genuine refugees!) take any one who can gather enough money to pay a
human trafficker (whether they live in Miami or Pakistan) and issue them
residence permits?
I
feel sad for what is happening in Somalia, Syria, Yemen, Iraq and their
citizens who are deprived of a life even resembling something of a civilized
one. It is ironic that they seek asylum in a western infidel country (USA,
Australia, Europe) rather than a rich Muslim country! Like United Arab
Emirates, which will repatriate them, won’t allow any one into their
territories. Recently in Abu Dhabi I heard a story of an Indian Muslim who had
overstayed his visa and within hours of apprehending him, he was repatriated to
India, just WITHIN HOURS!
Why
is that they decry the Western Civilization ( Boko Haram means Western
Education is Bad), but they rather live in the decadent West? Not the rich
Muslim countries of UAE or Qatar. I am sure they are aware that the infidel
West obeys civilized laws and has some sympathy for the suffering of humanity.
Israel a Jewish state has more Muslim refugees within its borders from Africa
than Qatar!
What
this Cuban couple wants is not Asylum but entry into USA. When potential
refugees to Australia are offered Asylum in other countries, they refuse, they
want entry into Australia.
Emigration
is a very personal matter. My father, olav ha shalom, said, one day we can look
forward to a world where there would be no borders, people can travel and
settle down wherever they want. That turned out to be an utopian dream.
Thinking about my families in USA, Australia and Israel or France who all have
freedom to travel, I feel sad for the families in Syria, Iraq, Yemen who are
caught in the conflicts beyond their comprehension. Like the offer to settle
Rohingya, we can offer them hope by offering to settle families from conflict
ridden zones
They
deserve our respect! They have lost everything but their hope, the 20 odd
million refugees almost all of them from recent conflicts of 21st
century..
ABOVE TWO PICTURES OF SYRIAN CHILDREN REFUGEES.
SADDER STILL IS THE PLIGHT OF SOMALI AND ERITREAN REFUGEES IN YEMEN WHO NOW WILL BE REPATRIATED TO THEIR COUNTRIES!
