180 Cubans Trapped in Costa Rica Travel to Guatemala on Way to US

MEXICO CITY (Sputnik) – About 8,000 Cubans have been forced to stay in Costa Rica since mid-November, because Nicaraguan authorities refused to let the migrants cross their state. In addition, Ecuador started demanding visas for Cubans starting from December 1.

This week, as part of a regional agreement, 180 of the 8,000 Cuban migrants flew to El Salvador and then travelled by bus to Guatemala on Wednesday, The Guardian reported.

The Costa Rican Foreign Ministry announced in December that it had reached an agreement with a number of Central American countries on sending the Cuban migrants to Mexico. The undocumented migrants were to be transferred to the republic of El Salvador by air and were then to go to Mexico by bus, traversing Guatemala.

The number of Cubans arriving to the United States increased sharply in 2015, after US President Barack Obama and Cuban leader Raul Castro announced plans of normalizing relations between their countries.

Cubans who have reached US shores or borders are allowed to stay and work legally in the United States and to apply for green cards under the 1966 Cuban Adjustment Act. Cubans fear that the special status could be revoked with the normalization of ties with the United States.