Cubans in Ecuador seek help reaching United States

QUITO, Ecuador – Scores of Cubans are camped out in front of Mexico’s embassy in Ecuador, appealing for help in reaching the United States.

Among the group is Peter Borges, who says many spent all they had to reach Ecuador and cannot find work.

They apparently seek something like an international operation earlier this year that lifted thousands of Cubans from Costa Rica to Mexico, so that they could reach the U.S. Unlike any other nationality, Cubans are essentially granted residence if they reach U.S. territory.

Mexican Embassy press spokesman Francisco Hernandez says the Central American operation was an exceptional case to resolve an international problem.

Thousands of Cubans have come to Ecuador over the past decade seeking work or to use it as a setting-off point toward to the U.S.