The regime acknowledges that one million 300 thousand Cubans maintain residency in Cuba but live abroad.

The Cuban regime recognized the magnitude of the current migration crisis and revealed that 1.3 million Cuban emigrants maintain residence in Cuba but live abroad.

This was stated by Colonel Mario Méndez Mayedo, head of the Identification, Immigration, and Foreigner Affairs Directorate of the Ministry of the Interior (MININT), during an appearance on the Round Table program of Cuban Television. He discussed the migration, foreigner affairs, and citizenship bills drafted by the National Assembly of People's Power (ANPP).

In a new euphemism of the regime, Méndez Mayedo referred to the massive exodus of Cubans in the last three years as "a new demographic and social scenario," which he presented as a result of normal migratory processes, devoid of any political or ideological connotation.

The evidence of this "normality," according to the regime, is that "there is a logical circularity in the flow of Cubans who are leaving the country, returning to their homeland, living in another country, have family in Cuba, live some time here, and some time there."

"There are more than a million Cubans who are in that... Yes, we estimate... Not estimate!... Based on our records, following the updates from 2013, there are one million three hundred thousand Cubans who maintain their residency in Cuba," stated the first colonel.

According to Méndez Mayedo, one million 300 thousand Cubans "maintain their residence in Cuba, but a part... the majority of the time... an important part of the time is abroad. And really the result of this is the logical circularity that migratory processes have."

The figure, provided for the first time by the regime, does not take into account the number of Cuban emigrants who chose to establish residence abroad and gave up on completing the paperwork and meeting the requirements to maintain residency in Cuba, a fact that the hesitant first colonel of the MININT did not disclose.

To that almost one and a half million Cubans, the regime intends to give them "differentiated treatment." In this sense, the ANPP has proposed new laws that contemplate certain rights of emigrated citizens (such as the ability to retain or inherit properties that were previously confiscated from them), but at the same time provide a legal framework for the repressive practices of the totalitarian regime against those who oppose it.

Cuban emigrants with residence in Cuba: New source of income for the totalitarian regime

In January 2020, Ernesto Soberón, Director General of Consular Affairs and Cuban Residents Abroad, stated that a total of 57,746 emigrated Cubans had requested to return to live on the island under the so-called "repatriation" scheme provided for since 2013 within the new Migration Policy of the regime.

Among them, 36,471 were residents in the United States. Soberón did not specify if all requests had been approved, and used the figure to support the official argument that "Cubans do not emigrate massively."

Repatriation allows Cubans to regain rights they had lost, such as the possibility of inheriting properties and receiving basic services on the island. Citizen voting in Cuba is a right apparently not enjoyed by repatriates.

However, more than one million 200 thousand Cubans would not have lost or renounced their residence in Cuba in this latest migratory wave, which is a clear indicator of the "differentiated treatment" given by the Cuban regime to potential senders of remittances to the Island.

In June 2023, the Cuban regime eliminated the repatriation requirement for Cuban athletes residing abroad to participate in events organized on the island. The measure is indicative of the regime's effort to maintain "ties" and "connections" of emigrants with the Island.

In mid-November 2023, Méndez Mayedo stated that the phrase "Welcome to the Homeland," which Immigration and Customs officials say at borders when Cuban travelers arrive, is not just a courtesy gesture, and that many emigrants respond by saying: "Homeland or Death."

Some are returning to their homeland after long stays abroad, where there is longing, yearning. The vast majority appreciate it, we have daily experience of that," the official stated.

A month before convening the IV Conference "The Nation and Emigration," the Cuban ruler Miguel Díaz-Canel referred to Cuban emigrants critical of the regime as "failures" and attributed the responsibility for the ongoing exodus on the Island to the United States.

"(…) Of not recognizing failure, because there are some who leave, I am not going to speak in absolute terms whether they are more or less, but they truly do not find the American dream, they end up in a more disadvantaged situation even than in the one they could be in Cuba, at least they have a situation of more social insecurity than the one they can have in Cuba. But the hatred that they have awakened, they are not capable of recognizing that the country where they went did not welcome them as they expected and then they turn against Cuba, against the revolution, as if the revolution were the cause of them making that decision," said Diaz-Canel.

During the closing of the event, the ruler assured that in his project for Cuba, "there is no room for those who conspire." In that sense, he pointed out that his commitment to "strengthening ties with Cubans living in any part of the world is unchanging and irreversible!" However, he made it clear that not everyone could return to the island.

In his speech, Díaz-Canel insisted that his position is Martí's, he wants a Cuba "with everyone and for the good of all", except for the Cubans who oppose his government's management.

"In that whole, there is no room for those who conspire against the nation, those who call for invasion and a license to kill their own people, nor those who stain the flag of the lone star with annexationist vocations and harass and aggress the artists and athletes who represent us on international stages and events," he said.

"We will never refuse to expand rights for everyone, except for those who live and work on the payroll of another government with the declared purpose of destroying our project and its perpetually unfinished work of striving for the highest possible degree of social justice," Díaz-Canel lashed out.