After the Biden Administration's decision to freeze the humanitarian parole program for Cuba, upon detecting signs of massive fraud, not only have travel authorizations been suspended for candidates who did not yet have theirs, but additionally, permits that had been granted and valid for months have also been canceled.
This was explained two days ago by journalist Daniel Benítez, citing testimonies such as that of a Cuban who had been granted an exit permit since June and one day found that the US immigration authorities had canceled it, preventing him from traveling. Therefore, he recommended that anyone who has a valid permit in hand should use it as soon as possible to avoid being left stranded until the United States decides, if it decides at all, to lift the temporary suspension of a program that has granted more than 100,500 permits since it came into effect in January 2023 and until May 2024.
But there has also been the case of people who had their travel to the United States authorized through the parole program and were able to leave Cuba in extremis in the last 48 hours. But one could say they were lucky because they flew with American Airlines from terminal 2 of the Havana airport, while those who had booked their plane ticket with Delta and were scheduled to depart from terminal 3 were unable to board their flight, despite discussions about the willingness of the US Department of State to allow travel for those who had been granted permission prior to the temporary suspension. At least, this was confirmed to Martí Noticias by a spokesperson from this institution.
Like Daniel Benítez, journalist Mario J. Pentón recommends confirming that the permit has not been revoked before heading to the airport.
With the official data in hand, Daniel Benítez estimates that one in every six applications made for the parole program from Cuba has been fraudulent, for example, by including Social Security numbers of deceased individuals or by having paid 2,000-3,000 euros to a sponsor. He is aware that many people say they paid to expedite their parole, and the journalist believes they have probably been victims of a scam.
In the midst of so much confusion, many regret having applied for the parole process legally and are waiting for authorization to travel since February, having to pay the price for others' wrongdoings. Others wonder what to do if their travel permit has been canceled, and journalist Daniel Benítez suggests reapplying as soon as possible, as there is no response at the moment to that reasonable doubt. In any case, he warns that the time it may take the Government of the United States to confirm which applications are fraudulent and which are not is still unknown.
Fraud in the humanitarian parole process has not been a decision that exclusively affects Cubans, as the US government suspended it for Venezuelans at the beginning of July and for Cubans, Nicaraguans, and Haitians almost fifteen days later.
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