Cubans line up for passports under new policy

MIAMI -- Cubans lined up at passport agencies, photocopying machines and some embassies yesterday on the first day of a migration reform that promises to allow them to make more personal trips abroad after almost exactly 54 years of bitterly hated restrictions.

In a hint of the possibly profound impact of the changes, Havana blogger Yoani Sanchez and dissident Guillermo Farinas, who together had been denied permission to travel abroad more than 24 times, said authorities told them they will be allowed to leave and return.

"I still don't believe it," Sanchez, who had stood in line since late Sunday outside the passport office in her neighborhood, noted in a tweet.

An office employee told her she would get a new passport in 15 days, Sanchez added, because her current passport is too full of visas she was never allowed to use. "I swing between hope and skepticism."

In Miami, Cuba travel agent Vivian Mannerud said her Airline Brokers Co. received phone inquiries from some of the 70,000 rafters who left the island illegally and had not been allowed to return by Havana under the old migration system.

"They can now return, with the same requirements as for other Cubans who return: a valid Cuban passport and a visa," she noted, referring to re-entry permits issued by Havana.

The reforms, which most importantly lift the requirement for exit permits -- Cubans can technically now travel abroad with just a passport and a visa from the destination country -- was one of the most popular measures undertaken by ruler Raúl Castro.

"Before, it was impossible to travel abroad. Now it's expensive and difficult but at least it's possible and one can dream," said Olga, a university researcher who asked to remain anonymous out of fear of government retaliation for speaking to a Miami journalist.