I've got hope' Biden offers immigration lifeline as US visas resume

For almost six years, the US embassy in Havana has lain silent in the withering Caribbean sun. Tiles have fallen from its facade, the fence has rusted and the awning of the consular section has been shredded in the fierce winds off the Florida Straits.

- Ruaridh Nicoll

Last year, though, a new blue awning appeared and US state department SUVs began to arrive. And then, this month, queues of Cubans appeared outside, as the embassy resumed full immigrant visa services for the first time since 2017.

The return of full consular services comes as Joe Biden tries to stem the latest migration crisis on the southern border of the US. The president has announced that 30,000 migrants from Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua and Venezuela will be allowed to legally enter the country every month.

In the past year, 250,000 Cubans - more than 2% of the island's population have been detained after attempting to cross the US border illegally. Most migrants from the island travel overland from Central America, but significant numbers attempt the perilous crossing by boat.

Biden has said that those attempting to cross to the US illegally will now be stopped, strengthening Trump-era policies that turned away migrants from Haiti and the rest of Latin America, but - until now-not Cubans.