The U.S. embassy in Cuba announced Wednesday that it will resume in May the limited processing of immigrant visas, after almost five years without consular services under a pretext discarded by scientists and official reports.

Through its official web page, the Washington representation informed that it will prioritize applicants in the IR-5 category, that is, parents of U.S. citizens.

People notified that their case is ready to be processed after April 1, 2022 will have their interview scheduled at the embassy in Havana, but those summoned before that date will be interviewed in Guyana, the source said.

The diplomatic mission specified that all other categories of immigrant visas will be scheduled and adjudicated in Georgetown and cannot be transferred to the Cuban capital.

The resumption of processing IR-5 applicants is the first step in the expansion of services, but there is no exact date as to when the embassy in Havana will begin processing the full range of immigrant and non-immigrant visas, he added.

Last March 3, the diplomatic mission notified about the preparations to resume activities in this capital, paralyzed by the alleged "Havana Syndrome", rejected by scientists and even reports from the U.S. State Department.

Under the mandate of Republican Donald Trump (2017-2021), the legation reduced its staff to a minimum in September 2017 with the argument of mysterious "sonic aggressions" and alleged "health incidents" of diplomats, even though Cuba from the beginning denied any attack and maintained the willingness to cooperate in the investigations.

Authorities of the largest of the Antilles denounced that in reality the accusation was part of a political operation to reverse advances in the ties between Cuba and the United States given during the administration of Barack Obama (2009-2017).

Without a definitive weapon, motivation or authors before the accusation, the embassy here witnessed the suspension of the family reunification program and the granting of visas, aspects that directly affected citizens of both countries and not the Antillean Executive as intended by the U.S. rhetoric.

Furthermore, although in the 1984 migratory agreements the United States committed itself to grant at least 20,000 visas annually, in the last few years it has only granted some 4,000 each year, according to the Caribbean Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

In the last five years, Cubans were forced to go to third countries for all their procedures, which increases costs and without certainty of an approval, and there are those who bet on an irregular migration that endangers lives.

Taken from Cubadebate