Cuba Reveals US Migratory Lies

Washington, Aug 8 (Prensa Latina) Cuba has accused the US of deliberately lying in its pretexts for failure to comply with the quota of 20,000 annual visas to those who want to go to the US permanently, as agreed in the signed 1974 bilateral migratory pacts.

In a release Wednesday, Dagoberto Rodriguez, chief of Cuba's Interest Section in Washington, recalled that on July 16, Cuba's Foreign Ministry warned publicly that the US had only granted 10,724 visas, of the 20,000 it is required to issue under the said agreements.

Cuba said that if the trend continued, Washington would not be able to comply with the pact.

On July 17, the US Interest Section in Havana argued that the US government would not comply with the accord this fiscal year. The following day, US State Department spokesman Sean McCormack repeated the message.

Both the US diplomatic mission and McCormack put the blame on Cuban authorities, using as an excuse an alleged Cuban ban on the entry of personnel and material from US territory to be used by the foreign mission.

"The US Interest Section and the US State Department know that all visas of diplomatic personnel in charge of applying migratory agreements have been granted by Cuba under the established terms,"

says the Cuban statement.

It is completely false that there is lack of material at the US diplomatic mission, which imported 80.3 tons of supplies in 2006, and according to the US Government Accountability Office, 50-70 percent of the shipment was not used in the operation or maintenance of the representation.

It was used in the promotion of subversive activities against Cuba, in flagrant violation of agreements leading to the opening of interest sections in both countries in 1977 and in flagrant violation of the Vienna Convention about Diplomatic Relations, says the note released in Washington.