The First 180 of 8,000 Cuban Migrants Stranded in Costa Rica Are Back on the Road

After months of being trapped in Costa Rica, a group of 180 Cuban migrants resumed their journey toward the United States late on Tuesday night via a specially-negotiated air bridge to El Salvador.

Once they entered El Salvador they continued by passenger buses across Guatemala on Wednesday, heading for southern Mexico where they are expected to be granted transit visas. The Mexican authorities have said that the Cubans will have to travel to the US border by their own means.

An estimated 8,000 Cubans have accumulated along Costa Rica's northern border with Nicaragua since mid-November, unable to continue north.

Related: There's a Big Increase of Cubans Heading Through Mexico to the US

The crisis was sparked by Nicaragua closing its border to Cubans, but has its roots in a surge of migrants seeking to get to the United States by flying to Ecuador and then traveling by land up through Latin America.

The increase was triggered by fears that the so-called "Wet foot, dry foot" policy is about to be repealed in the context of thawing relations between the US and the communist island.

The policy allows Cubans to remain in the US if they reach US soil.

The crisis of Cubans accumulating in Costa Rica led Ecuador to close the route down on December 1 when it began requiring new migrants to carry visas.

The pilot plan of the air bridge was agreed at a meeting in December between Costa Rica, El Salvador, Belice, Mexico, Guatemala, Panama and Honduras. Neither Cuba, Nicaragua nor the US attended the meeting that was held in Guatemala.

"The pilot operation … has been successful so far," Costa Rica's foreign minister, Manuel Gonzalez, told reporters.

If the plan is deemed a success, Costa Rica is hoping to run at least two flights a day.

Related: An Air Bridge Deal Promises a Way Out for the Cuban Migrants Stranded in Costa Rica

Costa Rica blames Nicaragua for creating a "humanitarian crisis" by closing the border. Nicaragua blames Costa Rica for doing exactly the same thing, after it issued transit visas to more than 1,000 Cubans.

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