One more reason to ditch the Cuban migrant pact

El Salvador is once again the deadliest place in the world.

Data released this week show the small but gang-plagued Central American nation logged an astonishing 104 murders per 100,000 people last year — more than 20 times the U.S. homicide rate.

So if you’re a Salvadoran, what could possibly add insult to that chronic injury?

How about watching as thousands of Cuban migrants get airlifted into your country en route to a nice, big welcome in the United States?

Under an arrangement made by Central American governments, some 8,000 Cubans languishing on the Costa Rica-Nicaragua border will soon be flown to El Salvador. Then they’ll get bused to Mexico and continue their journey to America, where Cuban migrants who arrive on dry land can enter and become legal residents after just one year — a privilege only Cubans enjoy.

Cubans have been moving through Central America to the U.S. border in record numbers recently. But these 8,000 Cubans got stuck in Costa Rica in November because Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega suddenly refused to let them come across his country.

To read the remainder of this column, go to:

http://wlrn.org/post/central-america-airlift-one-more-reason-ditch-cuban-migrant-privileges

This story was originally published January 7, 2016 at 8:55 PM with the headline "One more reason to ditch the Cuban migrant pact."