Cuban migrants Chiriqui bound

CUBAN MIGRANTS who enter Panama illegally  in future  will be deported or returned to the country from which they came says the government.

The measure was announced at the same time that the Government, and Catholic Church  authorities agreed  to the transfer to Gualaca, Chiriquí province, the almost 300 Cubans who have been staying for months in a temporary shelter of the Social Pastoral Caritas in Ancón.

On Tuesday, April  11  President Juan Carlos Varela met with Cardinal José Luis Lacunza, and Archbishop José Domingo Ulloa of Panama.

Illegal  Cuban migrants are  currently crammed into Caritas Panama facilities. “As a result of the meeting, there was a need to transfer Cuban migrants to a shelter that has better conditions,” said astatement from the Ministry of Security.

“Ecclesiastical and governmental authorities have agreed to move Cuban migrants to a shelter with better conditions, until their immigration status is resolved,”  said a statement from the Episcopal Conference of Panama.

The Ministry of Security will coordinate the transfer of the Cubans to the shelter in Gualaca, Chiriquí.

The transfer will only be applied manner to Cuban migrants who remained in the country after the change of immigration policy in the United States, according to the statement from the Ministry of Security.

It refers to the elimination of the law that established a special immigration regime for Cubans who managed to enter United States territory, known as ‘dry feet, wet feet’.

President Varela has given one month for  the Social Pastoral Caritas to vacate the Anncon  shelter.

Some Cubans have spent  seven months of in the temporary shelter of Ancon. Another group of Cubans, 72 in total, who were in Lajas Blanca, Darién, were  moved to Chiriquí last week.

The relocation of  300 Cubans in Ancon  will begin next week, said Víctor Berrío, executive secretary of Cáritas

Deacon Berrio said that the  alternative shelter will be finished so Cubans have beds, dining  room and other spaces to make them more comfortable.

Meanwhile, he said, a dialogue will be held to analyze the situation He said that there would be no more deportations of  those already in the country.

He said that the release of the more than 30 women and men who are in detention centers of the National Migration Service was also negotiated with government authorities.