Legal emigration surpasses the irregular one. (Design: Gilberto González García)

Cuba will keep her migratory policy, guided to guarantee legality, regularity, order and security of human movements.

Cuban authorities do everything possible to discourage illegal emigration that entails serious dangers for life; as well as, integrity of the migrants, whose majority are victims of unscrupulous trafficker of human beings, and exposed to endless risks.

Since January 2013, up to December, last year, more than 671 thousand Cuban citizens have travelled abroad, 78% of them, for the first time, some others in several occasions.

Those figures represent an important increase of travellers, compared to the previous stage of the announcement of the current migratory regulations.

Except for insignificant exceptions, any Cuban may have an ordinary passport that permits him to buy a ticket and travel to any country that accepts to receive him, either as a tourist or as an immigrant.

Only 9, 6 % of Cubans going out of the country emigrate; while most of them return. These are figures compared to the arithmetic average of the rest of the world, except, of course, those from the countries under war, or with very serious social situations.

Even though the number of irregular emigrants towards US and other countries was higher, the figures of Cuban migrants in relation to the whole population of the country, were very low, compared to the amount of migrants coming from the rest of the continent, and from other countries of the other regions.

Only the deliberate manipulation of the reactionary press magnified the Cuban migratory movement that forms part of the habitual mobility of the world population; mainly, for economic reasons.

It is early to evaluate the real impact of the North American decision to eliminate the so-called policy of ¨dry feet – wet feet´. However, now we can observe a decrease of the Cuban migratory flow, even though, we do not count on proved figures.

Simultaneously, a higher control is appreciated in several Latin American and Caribbean countries that have been used as ways for the traffic of the Cuban illegal immigrants. Deportation of these people has gone up.

On the other hand, the number of Cubans settled in other countries, who are requesting their resettlement in Cuba, grows. The percentages of these requests are high, and are being approved.

The Cuban authorities reiterate the disposition to receive her citizens who want to return, in accordance with the regulations of the migratory law, with absolute normality, and with no reprisals or consequences.

Translated by Reinaldo Fernández