A Republican Member of the United States Congress visited Costa Rica and toured the shelters provided to stranded Cuban migrants during the holidays. Representative Kay Granger attended a meeting with President Luis Guillermo Solis, Chancellor Manuel Gonzalez, and U.S. Ambassador Fitzgerald Haney before touring the shelters located in the Guanacaste province.

At the meeting, which was part of an agreement reached between the U.S. and Costa Rica earlier this year to facilitate encounters high-level officials more frequently, Representative Granger got a firsthand view at the situation that these stranded Cuban migrants are enduring after the Nicaraguan government deployed infantry soldiers to repeal their transit north towards the United States.

Another U.S. Member of Congress was supposed to attend the meeting, but his flight to the Daniel Oduber Quiros International Airport was delayed and thus could only tour the shelters. Representative Henry Roberto Cuellar is a member of the Democratic Party and is the proud son of migrant workers who crossed the Rio Grande to settle in the U.S.

No cooperation or airlift topics were discussed between the U.S. Representatives and the Costa Rican officials; however, it is very likely that the Cuban migrants may choose to arrive at border crossing points located within the districts served by the visiting Members of Congress.

It is interesting to note that Representative Granger has expressed opposition to the renewal of diplomatic ties between the U.S. and Cuba; to wit, her official press release issued in July:

WASHINGTON, DC—Congresswoman Kay Granger (TX-12) issued the following statement regarding the Department of State’s plan to modify the U.S. diplomatic presence in Cuba:

“I am opposed to the Administration’s planned re-designation of the U.S. Interests Section as a U.S. Embassy in Cuba, which would give the Cuban regime full diplomatic recognition despite the fact that they continue to repress the Cuban people. As Chairwoman of the Appropriations Committee’s State, Foreign Operations and Related Programs Appropriations Subcommittee, it is my responsibility to weigh in on how the State Department uses American taxpayer dollars, and I object to funds being used to expand U.S. diplomatic operations and facilities in Cuba.”