A Cuban recalled in a video how authorities could force those living in Havana without regularized residency to return to their provinces, a practice he compared to the deportations carried out by the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).
"To get a residence in Havana, if you were from the East, it was madness," begins content creator Lil Lemon (@lillemon_oficial) in a video where he recalls the challenges faced by those arriving from other provinces looking to settle in the city.
According to his account, one of the alternatives to achieve a change of address was to marry a woman from Havana, although that was not easy either due to the prejudices against people from the east.
"Since you got involved with a woman from Havana and your mother-in-law heard you talking and realized you were from Matanzas, that was already a problem," he shares with a laugh.
The Cuban recalls that many people depended on temporary permits to remain in the capital, which he compares to the migration parole in the United States.
"The temporary permits were for two months, three months. If you were caught with your expired permit in Havana, that was a problem," he explains.
It also states that those who did not have their residency regularized faced difficulties in accessing certain services, including the purchase of products through the supply booklet.
"You couldn't buy at the bodega until you could get matched up with a habanera or someone wrote you a work letter," he recalls.
The most striking moment comes when he compares the police controls of that era with the actions of the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).
"They would take you on the Cuban ICE. You wouldn’t end up in jail or anything; your punishment was to turn back by train," he recounts, referring to those who were forced to return to their provinces.
However, he assures that many quickly returned to Havana, despite the risk of being expelled again.
"They were being deported on January 1, and by January 16, they were jumping back across the desert," he jokes, using another comparison for migration to the United States.
A reality that had legal backing
Restrictions on internal migration in Cuba were formalized in the , which established requirements for citizens from other provinces to establish their permanent residence in Havana.
Article 8 of Decree 217 established fines of 300 pesos and immediate return to their province of origin for those who established permanent residence in Havana without authorization. In the case of individuals who remained in the capital after the expiration of their temporary residence permit, the stipulated penalty was 200 pesos and mandatory return to their place of origin.
In May 1997, the Spanish newspaper El País reported that approximately 2,000 people had been returned to their provinces during the initial operations implementing those measures.
to ease certain residency requirements, particularly in cases of family reunification.
"I was deported to Camagüey twice in one week."
The video has sparked numerous reactions from Cubans who claim to have had similar experiences.
"I was deported to Camagüey twice in the same week," remarked a user.
"I was one of those, and they deported me, all in my own country," recalled a woman.
Another internet user stated that the individuals transferred to Holguín barely arrived in their province before setting off again on the journey to the capital.
There were also those who questioned the restrictions from outside Cuba.
"I'm Dominican, and I find that quite strange," wrote a user surprised that it was necessary to obtain permission to settle in another city within the same country.
One of the comments that best captures the sentiment of those who lived through that experience states: "It's unbelievable to know that we could be deported in our own country."
Others recalled regionalism and the prejudices against the inhabitants of the eastern provinces, while some claimed they were unaware that these situations had occurred.
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