Almost 300,000 Cubans abroad visited island in '09

The Washington Post

By ANDREA RODRIGUEZ
The Associated Press
Wednesday, January 27, 2010; 3:37 PM

HAVANA -- Nearly 300,000 Cubans living abroad visited their homeland last year, the island's foreign minister said Wednesday, but he insisted a loosening of travel restrictions on Cuban-Americans coming to the island was "insufficient."

It was unclear if the 2009 figure was a record since the government rarely releases complete figures on the number of Cubans living overseas and the frequency of their visits. But Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez said about 296,000 Cubans living abroad came back last year compared to just 37,000 in 1994.

He did not say how many came from the United States, but the overwhelming majority of islanders overseas live in the U.S., mostly in southern Florida and New Jersey. There are other sizable Cuban communities in Spain, Mexico and Argentina.

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