US reopening visa and consular services at embassy in Cuba

HAVANA (AP) — The United States Embassy in Cuba is reopening visa and consular services Wednesday, the first time it has done so since a spate of unexplained health incidents among diplomatic staff in 2017 slashed the American presence in Havana.

The Embassy confirmed this week it will begin processing immigrant visas, with a priority placed on permits to reunite Cubans with family in the United States, and others like the diversity visa lottery.

The resumption comes amid the greatest migratory flight from Cuba in decades, which has placed pressure on the Biden administration to open more legal pathways to Cubans and start a dialogue with the Cuban government, despite a historically tense relationship.

They are anticipated to give out at least 20,000 visas a year, though it's just a drop in the bucket of the migratory tide, which is fuelled by intensifying economic and political crises on the island.

In late December, US authorities reported stopping Cubans 34,675 times along the Mexico border in November, up 21% from 28,848 times in October.

Month-to-month, that number has gradually risen. Cubans are now the second-largest nationality after Mexicans appearing on the border, US Customs and Border Protection data shows.

The growing migration is due to a complex array of factors, including economic, energy and political crises, as well as deep discontent among Cubans.

While the vast majority of Cuban migrants head to the US via flights to Nicaragua and cross by land at the US border with Mexico, thousands more have also taken a dangerous voyage by sea.

They travel 90 miles to the Florida coast, often arriving in rickety, precariously constructed boats packed with migrants.

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