Cuban nationals protest Embassy to return home

With a sign that says “take us home please” a small group of Cuban nationals Thursday morning protested in front of the Cuban Embassy at High Street, Georgetown to return to Cuba. They said the Cuban Government is willing to accept them but the Government of Guyana is not allowing them to leave.

There are some 115 Cubans who are stuck here.

One of the nationals told the News Room that they travelled to Guyana in March for appointments at the United States Embassy and have been stuck here since.

“We are here today to find out what will happen with the Cubans stranded in Guyana. We have been here for two months. There are other persons who have been for three month here. We were told that the governments have been negotiating and several steps have been taken, but the Guyanese airports will not open, so it has nothing to do with Cuba,” the foreign national said.

The airports in Guyana have been closed since March 17 to prevent the spread of the Coronavirus, however, authorisation is given for certain flights to come in and take US, Canadian and UK nationals back to their country.

Another Cuban stressed that they do not have money to pay rent and have nowhere else to go.

“We only want to go back to Cuba; we have been stranded here for a long time. We are running out of money. The Cuban Government has done everything in its hands, but we are told that Guyana is not responsible for our return to our country.

“The only thing that we want is to return to our country. We do not think that this will affect Guyana in any way because we are not Guyanese. We have small children, also elderly people who are sick. The only thing that we want is to go back. Guyana must accept that Cuba will come to take us back home.”

Efforts to contact the Cuban Consulate in Guyana by the News Room were futile.