Cuban refugees allowed passage through Costa Rica to US

(Vatican Radio)  A crisis involving 8,000 Cuban refugees stranded in Costa Rica, has been resolved after Sunday's Angelus appeal from Pope Francis led to a meeting of Central American nations who've reached a humane resolution.

Listen to James Blears' report:

Many of the Cuban refugees had flown from Havana to Ecuador, continuing on through Colombia and Panama, reaching Costa Rica. But then they were stranded, because officials had stopped issuing transit visas, saying sheer numbers were swamping them, stretching their resources to breaking point.

With the crisis worsening, a dose of compassion and humanity blended with common sense was needed to ease a logjam.  

On Sunday His Holiness Pope Francis appealed to Central American governments to review with generosity all necessary efforts to find a rapid solution to this humanitarian drama.

Faith moved as well as traversed mountains. 

The next act was a meeting in Guatemala City. Foreign Ministers and officials from Costa Rica, El Salvador, Mexico, Panama, Honduras, Belize, Guatemala itself, and the International Organization for Migration, reached an agreement. 

Cuban migrants who legally travelled to Costa Rica, will be flown to El Salvador, bused to Mexico and then on to the United States, who'll accept them.

This will be achieved via "Wet foot, dry foot" arrival policy: Those from Cuba who physically set foot on US territory instead of arriving by sea, can apply for residency.

Wary Costa Rica has stressed this is an exception and won't become the rule.