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Cubans may request a purchase card to enter Panamanian territory, according to a statement issued Monday by the National Migration Service of Panama (SMP). The document will be issued to the consulate of this istmeño country in Havana, will have a price equivalent to 20 dollars and will allow entry for 30 days.
"Our consulates are saturated with the interest of traveling to Panama for shopping and sightseeing," "we" have therefore decided to relax the immigration policy with Cuba, "he said. said Panamanian President Juan Carlos Varela.
To acquire the purchase card, Cubans must present their piece of identity as an independent or, in their absence, a certificate stating that they work as creators or craftsmen. A prerequisite is to have already traveled to Panama or to another country.
Cubans who have a Panamanian visa will not need the purchase card. Panama grants approximately 1,000 visas per month to island citizens and, to date, more than 35,900 admissions to Panama have been registered since 2018. Last year, they were over 71,700, a figure much higher than in 2010, while they scarcely covered 6,000 people.
The country of the istmeño is one of the most important destinations for so-called mules dedicated to the import of clothing, footwear, medicine and appliances on the island. island for resale on the black market, a way to address the chronic shortage of the network of national stores.
According to the Havana Consulting Group (THCG) consulting group, Cuban entrepreneurs withdrew about $ 2,390 million from the island in 2017, nine times more than the foreign capital invested in the Mariel Special Development Zone, the 39, one of the major issues of the Cuban government. Many Cubans have obtained permanent residency in the United States, Panama, the Dominican Republic and Spain, allowing them to access credit and create strong currency bank accounts, added Morales, Director of THCG.
A striking fact is that many Cuban entrepreneurs have become residents of the United States, Panama, the Dominican Republic, Ecuador or Spain, which has allowed them "to establish a legal basis on these markets where they can have a business, a bank account and access to credits ".
Of this $ 2,390 million, $ 1,008 million was invested in the purchase of goods, while about $ 366 million was invested in real estate and other businesses, and he declared.
The National Immigration Service also announced Monday the creation of the Office of Humanitarian Affairs for Residents of Venezuela. Through this entity, Venezuelan legal residents in Panama can request, for humanitarian reasons, the "family reunion" of this family member located at the fourth degree of consanguinity and at the second degree of affinity.
Venezuelans may apply for stamped visas in Panama for relatives living in Venezuela. Those interested in the family reunification process must provide a copy of the passport, a copy of the Resident Card in Panama, proof of family relationship with the person to be claimed, proof of economic credit, a letter of responsibility and a statement of responsibility. proof of address. Panama
Visas will be affixed to the Consulate of Panama in Venezuela. The National Migration Service of Panama reported last October a decrease in the number of Venezuelans arriving in the country. According to official statistics, about 2,000 Venezuelans have arrived since Panama applied for a visa from Venezuelan citizens. During this year, 3,800 visas were approved for Venezuelans and more than 1,600 were refused, said the SNM.
This note has been completed by the wire services of Nuevo Herald
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