The board games of politics
According to the economist Elías Amor, based in Spain, he considers that there is no attraction for repatriation to Cuba due to the absence of a state of law and full legal guarantees. Those who have plans to invest find a big obstacle: the Cuban government.Investment regulations do not allow Cubans to own a business, but to have a license to operate it.
Amor also makes an alert about the danger of taking the savings to a country with an unstable banking system, which at any moment can go bankrupt.At the same time, it indicates that the health and social protection system "of very poor quality" is not prepared to meet the needs of the elderly.
Regarding people of working age, remember that employment opportunities consist of working for the State for a very low salary, or establishing businesses in a specific category of authorized professions.
Citizens who manage to repatriate in Cuba recover some rights, however, they are exposed to losing others in the United States. The change of the migratory laws in the island, from 2013, has allowed those who left the country before that date to carry out the repatriation procedures with the purpose of recovering the residence in the island and the rights that this implies. Among the benefits is the possibility of inheriting or buying a home, investing in a small business, working and receiving health services in Cuba.
According to the allegations of people with repatriation plans or already repatriated interviewed for this note, most do not plan to settle permanently on the island. Even so, those who have these plans, should consider the possibility of losing the aid and benefits of the withdrawal from the United States.
René, 78, who wants to repatriate to Guantanamo to live with his children, will lose the help of the government he receives in the United States. He hopes to live on the money his daughter sends him from Miami or the resources his family has on the island.
Maria Ortega, public affairs specialist at the Social Security Administration, says that supplemental income assistance (SSI) for people over 65 is never paid outside of the United States. The Social Security Administration information guide indicates that Treasury Department regulations prohibit paying retirement benefits if the person is in Cuba or North Korea.
According to the guide, if you are a US citizen in Cuba or in North Korea, you can get all the payments we retain once you go to a country where we can send payments.The guide also states that if you are not a US citizen, you can not receive payments for the months you lived in Cuba or North Korea, even if you go to another country and meet all other requirements.
To say of Claudia Cañizares, lawyer of Cañizares Law Group in Miami, specializing in immigration issues, ratifies that people who are not US citizens and who receive extra help or disability risk losing it.The attorney also believes that the process of US citizenship may be affected for residents who confirm in a legal document that they live outside the United States.