Not my favorite sources, but some questionable* yet interesting statistics:
In the past two years, more Cubans have found their way into the United States than during the Balsero (rafter) crisis in the summer of 1994.
…from approximately October 2005 through September 2007, nearly 77,000 Cubans are known to have reached U.S. territory — more than twice the total of the 1994 Balsero refugees.
Since fiscal year 2000, upward of 191,000 Cubans have started new lives in the U.S., eclipsing the combined migrations of [the Mariel and Balsero migrations of] 1980 and 1994.
In fact, more Cubans are now entering the United States — legally and otherwise — than at any other time since the Freedom Flights of the mid-1960s through the early 1970s
and foregone conclusions:
Mass migration has long been a favored policy in Havana, both as an escape valve to relieve the periodic build-up of internal socioeconomic pressures and as an aggressive foreign-policy tactic shrewdly employed to embarrass and bring Washington to the negotiating table on Cuba’s terms.
Tacitly if not overtly, the Castro regime once again appears to be turning to mass migration as its policy of choice to both deflate mounting dissatisfaction at home and arguably set the stage for more favorable negotiating terms in its relations with Washington.
*Note the time frame on each side of the comparisons
Yes, it’s true. We’ve had more than 200,000 Cubans come in the last 10 years. And is a huge pressure release for the regime. Otherwise they wouldn’t complain so much when the process of distributing the 20,000 annual visas slows down a little bit.
Yes, it’s true. We’ve had more than 200,000 Cubans come in the last 10 years. And is a huge pressure release for the regime. Otherwise they wouldn’t complain so much when the process of distributing the 20,000 annual visas slows down a little bit.
Yes, it’s true. We’ve had more than 200,000 Cubans come in the last 10 years. And is a huge pressure release for the regime. Otherwise they wouldn’t complain so much when the process of distributing the 20,000 annual visas slows down a little bit.
Yes, it’s true. We’ve had more than 200,000 Cubans come in the last 10 years. And is a huge pressure release for the regime. Otherwise they wouldn’t complain so much when the process of distributing the 20,000 annual visas slows down a little bit.