Cuba Making it Easier to Leave

Exit visa requirement to be dropped
By Rob Quinn,  Newser Staff
Posted Oct 16, 2012 3:07 AM CDT
Cuba Making It Easier to Leave
People line up to check with migration officials before departing at the Jose Marti International airport in Havana, Cuba, next to a screen showing Fidel Castro.   (AP Photo/Javier Galeano, File)

Starting in January, it's going to be a lot easier for most Cubans to get out of Cuba. The government has announced that it will drop the requirement for citizens to obtain expensive exit permits before leaving the country. Under the current, widely despised, system, getting an exit permit is a lengthy process and dissidents are often denied one, reports the BBC, which notes that the US grants residency to people who make it there from Cuba.

The move is the latest reform from Raul Castro's government, but Cuba still plans to limit travel by members of some unspecified sectors, probably including doctors and members of the military, reports the AP. The policy change "takes into account the right of the revolutionary state to defend itself from the interventionist plans of the US government and its allies," states the notice in Communist Party newspaper Granma announcing the change. "Therefore, measures will remain to preserve the human capital created by the revolution in the face of the theft of talent applied by the powerful." (More Cuba stories.)

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