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

The first group from among 8,000 Cubans stuck in Costa Rica — because Nicaragua won't let them continue their journey to the US — are due to fly to El Salvador in January, from where they will be transported by bus to Mexico.
Imagen por Melissa del Pozo

The first 250 of an estimated 8,000 Cuban migrants who are currently stuck in Costa Rica are due to finally be able to continue their journey to the United States thanks to a regional agreement.

The migrants have been accumulating in Costa Rica unable to continue their journey since mid-November, when Nicaragua closed its border to Cubans.

The plan emerged from a deal thrashed out yesterday by the governments of Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Belize, Mexico and Panama. Neither Nicaragua, Cuba nor the US attended the meeting that was held in Guatemala

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The deal involves a first group of Cubans being flown over Nicaragua to land in El Salvador, from where they are to be transported to Mexico in passenger buses.

It comes two days after Pope Francis called world attention to the plight of the Cubans stranded in Costa Rica.

"I invite the countries of the region to renew with generosity all necessary efforts in order to find a rapid solution to this humanitarian drama," he said.

Related: The Pope Wants the World to Pay Attention to the Cuban Migrants Stuck in Costa Rica

The crisis is rooted in a surge of Cuban migrants seeking to reach the United States by flying to Ecuador and then travelling north by land.

While the route has been popular for several years, flows suddenly increased during 2015 because of fears that improved diplomatic relations between the US and Cuba will soon lead to the revocation of the so-called "Wet-Foot, Dry-Foot" policy that allows Cubans who reach US soil to remain.

The phenomenon was largely ignored until Nicaragua suddenly blocked the route by closing its border to Cubans on November 15 for reasons that remain unclear.

Several attempts to negotiate a solution to the crisis had failed before the deal announced on Monday night.

Separate statements released by the Costa Rican and Mexican governments both called it a "pilot plan."

Neither gave any detail about how it would be evaluated, or how often the air bridge would be operated if it is deemed a success.

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Costa Rica's foreign minister Manuel González told VICE News that the first group would consist of about 250 of the Cubans currently stuck and leave in the first week of January.

González confirmed reports that the migrants will be charged for the journey, but said they would be given a special rate. He also insisted that the flight would only be open to those who are in Costa Rica with a transit visa.

Costa Rica stopped giving out transit visas to Cubans on December 18, arguing that it just couldn't cope with any more migrants. "This solution is absolutely an exception and only available to those people who are legally in the country," the minister was quoted as saying in the official statement.

The rate at which new Cuban migrants reaching Costa Rica has, however, decreased dramatically since Ecuador began requiring visas on December 1.

The statements also contain no mention of what will happen to the migrants once they reach Mexico. In recent months the Mexican authorities have provided Cuban migrants with transit visas allowing them to reach the US border without problem. This follows complaints by activists that they were being systematically extorted by Mexican migration officials.

The news of the new deal was celebrated in the shelters where the Cubans are being housed by the Costa Rican government

"I thought this day would never come," Kenya Lozano told VICE News by phone from the adapted fire station near the border with Nicaragua where she has been camped out for the last six weeks.

"We'll have to pay the ticket, and there are no guarantees that I will get on the first flight," she said. "But if we've waited this long we can wait a few days more."

Follow Melissa del Pozo on Twitter: @melissadps