How more Cubans are fleeing for the US than ever

“I ask the countries of the region to generously resume efforts to find a quick solution to this humanitarian drama,” he said, speaking from St Peter’s.

It is a problem that has been brewing for many weeks. Last week the Nicaraguan government proposed that Washington organise an airlift to take the migrants directly from Costa Rica to the United States. The Costa Rican government has tried to convince both Belize and Guatemala to allow the Cubans passage to reach Mexico.

Almost 6,000 Cubans are currently in Costa Rica, said Mrs Rojas – waiting like her, her husband and their friend to make it to the US. Her 14-year-old son has stayed behind with a sister; she hopes eventually to bring him to the US.

Since leaving Cuba on November 9, she has journeyed by boat, bus, foot and plane to get closer to her goal of reaching the United States. Next was an eight-hour walk to the border crossing, before carrying on north.

Cubans have since 1966 been able, unlike any other Latinos, to show up at an established US port of entry, declare their nationality, and enter the country. But with the new agreement, they fear that policy may end.

“Now we all want to leave Cuba more than ever,” she said.

Mrs Rojas, 36, is one of an estimated 45,000 Cubans to have left the island this year – the biggest annual exodus since the 1980 Mariel boatlift, which hauled 125,000 people across the Florida Straits. Many now are using a new route – flying in to Ecuador, which has lifted visa restrictions, and then travelling overland through Central America and Mexico.

But did not the agreement bring the prospect of better days? Embassies have opened, business has surged, credit cards are now being accepted, and – last week – direct flights and postal services resumed. Internet access has widened and arrivals of American visitors increased 50 per cent, year on year. Has this not helped them financially?

“For us Cubans our lives have not changed,” Mrs Rojas said. “Actually, it’s getting worse.”

Human rights campaigners claim that 1,500 people were arbitrarily detained in December – one of the highest figures in months. And the dream of political participation still seems very distant indeed.

It was not supposed to be like this.

When President Barack Obama and Raul Castro, his Cuban counterpart, made simultaneous speeches beamed live into American and Cuban living rooms on December 17, 2014, there was dancing in the streets. At last, Cubans felt, they were coming in from the cold, and their lives could not help but get better.

Mr Castro, now 84, and his ailing brother Fidel, 89, appeared to have come to the realisation that with their economy in the doldrums and a young, restless population, isolation would no longer work.

Mr Obama said that Washington had realised that putting up barriers would not help Cubans – although, to his frustration, the embargo remains in place. Only Congress can remove that, meaning that many restrictions on business still stand.

In mid December a “goodwill tour” of Major League Baseball players – including some high-profile Cuban defectors – made their first visit to the island, sparking a frenzy among fans.

Antonio Castro, son of Fidel and vice president of Cuba’s baseball federation, said it marked the start of a new era.

“It’s like a baby,” he said. “Born now, learning to walk. Fans want it. Players want it. We have to see. Anything we do to grow the game – everything we do to grow the game is exciting for us.”

But the initial joy of Cubans soon faded, and change did not come quickly enough. Many, like Mrs Rojas, set their sights on the northern horizon.

From her home in Miami, Alicia Garcia was waiting to help. She fled Cuba as part of the 1994 exodus – one of three main “waves” of migration. The first was directly after the revolution; the second in 1980, when flotillas of boats crossed the Straits to pick up waiting Cubans from the port of Mariel, and the third in 1994, in the midst of deep economic hardship after the fall of Cuba’s economic crutch, the USSR.

Mrs Garcia came by boat, but the majority of those arriving in Florida now come overland through Mexico.

“It’s a flood of people,” she said. “Thirty thousand came in 1994 with me, but this is far bigger. All types of people are coming – men, women, children. They are fed up of the repression and economic problems at home, and scared that soon they won’t be welcomed by the US.”

Her organisation, the Exodus 94 Foundation, helps new arrivals without family members in the US. She assists them with documentation, shelter and jobs – finding work for them across the US in Pennsylvania, Houston and California.

“This week we had 25 arrive. But I think it’s slowing down for Christmas – a month ago it was 100, 200 a week.

“Nobody believes that this change will make their lives better. They’ve been lied to by the Castros too many times before. Maybe Obama is sincere, but Raul definitely isn’t.”

Jordan, 38, arrived in Miami a month ago. He left Cuba for Ecuador, and initially planned to work there – but soon realised that he could earn more money to send home to his mother in Santa Clara from the US.

“I made $12 a month as an electrician in Cuba,” he said, putting down his drill to tell his story, while behind him his Cuban colleagues noisily carried on working. “Here I can make $1,000. I was just looking for a better life.”

His journey was hard – corrupt Colombian border police stole his $900 savings on the border, and he crossed Central America “village by village”, working as he went. But he insisted the hardship was worth it.

“For tourists Cuba is beautiful. But for us living there, it’s so hard.”

Joel, 29, agreed. A chemist by trade, he arrived in Miami a month ago and is still waiting for his American work permit. But he was confident things would be better.

“I earned a good salary in Cuba – $20 a month,” he said. “But here I can send money back to my mum and build a future for me.”

Back on the Costa Rican border, Mrs Rojas was dreaming of following in Jordan and Joel’s footsteps.

“You asked me what has changed in the past year for us,” she said. “Well I can tell you. We’ve all gone completely crazy to leave.”

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/centralamericaandthecaribbean/cuba/12062904/How-more-Cubans-are-fleeing-for-the-US-than-ever.html