In the last few days, several media reported an alleged news story about legal proceedings at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Cuba (MINREX). Such media reported an imminent closure of offices which might jeopardize a significant number of legal procedures in Cuba. Ernesto Soberón, General Director of the General Directorate of Consular Affairs and Cubans Residing Abroad rejected this information in his Twitter account, describing it as “Fake News”.
“Document legalization is still being handled with its usual level of activity, with no interruptions”, were the official’s words, to which Cubadebate news media added:
According to the Foreign Ministry’s website, the document legalization service is the recognition of the signature of the official authorized to perform such legal action, certifying that the document concerned has been issued following the procedure provided by law.
What was this Fake News?
The news labelled as Fake consisted of an alert claiming that MINREX could shortly close temporarily the document legalization services in Cuba, following a report broadcast on the opinion show Juan Juan Al Medio. The program mentioned the lack of material resources such as stamps, the lack of personnel and the ongoing crisis in the country.
After the high-ranking official denied the veracity of this information, news media continued to report on the issue, to the extent of labelling Soberón’s statement as false and searching for more sources and data to support the original news.
Is The Denial Fake News?
One of the media publishing this information responded to Soberon’s tweet with a report stating that they had contacted ministry workers to make public the reasons for this situation and to respond to the MINREX official’s statement.
This report highlights the long processing backlog of cases as a cause behind the measure. This situation means that MINREX should accept as few applications as possible as long as the number of backlogged cases is not decreasing. The report also states that the denial took place because this information is not wanted outside the ministry, but rather just for its workers alone.
What If This Fake News Is Not Fake News?
In the last few months, following the implementation of the “Grandchildren of Spain Act” and the transformation in the Humanitarian Parole program —benefiting Cubans, Haitians, and Nicaraguans— the demand for procedures handled by MINREX has increased considerably, which means it would be possible that the required resources may run out at any moment.
According to the information provided last year, Correos de Cuba was unable to get the necessary foreign currency to buy from abroad all the paper money required by the current demand. Without this resource, the production of DME stamps is limited, and therefore, the procedures requiring them can not be completed as quickly as the people need and wish.
Beyond the accuracy of this news, Opapeleo will stay up to date on the situation and keep you updated regarding any possible measures affecting the users.
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