Costa Rica Cuban Immigrant Crisis: Cuba Offers Aid to Stranded Cubans Headed to the U.S.

Authorities in Cuba provided aid to about 2,000 citizens who are stranded in the Costa Rica-Nicaragua border after they left their country to immigrate to the U.S.

According to Fox News, Havana is helping Cubans who are seeking the "American Dream" but ended up getting stranded in the borders of Costa Rica and Nicaragua since mid-November as they waited Managua to authorize their passage to the north.

IPS News was to cover what the thousands of Cubans went through, from getting a temporary transit pass from the National Risk Prevention and Emergency Response Commission (NRPERC) of the Costa Rican government to having the borders closed on their faces by Nicaragua on Nov. 15.

The outlet also cited a video from the NRPERC showing interviews of some of the Cuban immigrants who shared the reasons why they desperately want to immigrate to the U.S.

"We're desperate to get to the United States because we want a better future for our children and for ourselves," Arley Alonso Ferrarez stated.

In an interview with the Sydney Morning Herald, Cuban migrant and teacher Lenin Rivacoba shared his rough time in the border of Costa Rica where he lost hearing in one ear, was temporarily blinded by teargas, and is now with an almost empty pocket.

"It's get there, or die. I can't return. They're waiting for me to start sending money back," the 30-year-old father of two told SMH, adding that his grandmother sold her house for $5000 in order to pay for her passage to the U.S.

Based on the Fox News report, the Cubans who decided cross the borders are those who want to take advantage of the U.S. government's "wet foot, dry foot" policy which provides Cubans who reach American soil the chance to apply for legal permanent residence.

SMH reports that these migrants rushing entry to the U.S. are those who fear that rapprochement between the two countries would result to the end of the preferential U.S. policies for Cuban migrants.

According to the outlet, Cubans have the privilege to receive residency without any hassle thanks to the U.S. government's Cuban Adjustment Act, a feat that is not offered to other Latin Americans who struggle for green cards and even live illegally in the country plagued with constant fear of deportation.

Among other things, this is why Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez would be traveling to El Salvador in a bid to convene immigration matters to his counterparts from Panama, Guatemala, Mexico, Costa Rica, Colombia, Ecuador and Nicaragua, Fox News reported.