(CNN) — The US State Department on Monday announced a series of measures it said are aimed at supporting the Cuban people, including reinstating the Cuban Family Reunification Parole Program (CFRP) and increased consular services and visa processing.
“We will make it easier for families to visit relatives in Cuba and for authorized American travelers to engage with the Cuban people, attend meetings and conduct research,” spokesman Ned Price said in a statement.
The Biden administration is also lifting the $1,000 per quarter family remittance limit “and will support donation remittances to Cuban entrepreneurs, with the goal of further empowering families to support each other and for entrepreneurs to expand their business,” said Price.
Biden promised in September 2020, during the campaign, that he would “try to reverse Trump’s failed policies that harmed Cubans and their families.” His administration had been conducting a review of Trump’s Cuba policies since Biden took office in January 2021.
How Biden navigates Cuba might have political implications, given that he lost Florida to Trump in the 2020 election following the former president repeatedly claimed that Biden would make the United States a “socialist country” if he won, a message that resonated among Cuban Americans.
Cuba says it is “a limited step in the right direction”
The Government of Cuba described the relaxation of the Biden administration’s restrictions on the communist-ruled island as “a limited step in the right direction,” in a statement Posted Monday night.
“Today the Government of the United States announced several measures, positive but of a very limited scope, with respect to Cuba in terms of visas, regular migration, flights to provinces, remittances and adjustments to regulations for transactions with the non-state sector,” he said. the Communiqué of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Cuba.
However, the statement criticized continued broader sanctions, such as the economic embargo on Cuba and its inclusion on the State Department’s list of countries that support terrorism.
The increased sanctions imposed by the Trump administration squeezed Cuba’s already ailing economy. Following the pandemic and widespread protests last summer, Cubans have begun to abandon the island in the largest peak exodus in decades.
“Without exaggeration, the consequences of this siege can be described as devastating. The increase in migration is proof of this,” says the statement from the Foreign Ministry.
According to the statement, the Cuban government is willing to enter into negotiations with the United States “without interference in internal affairs and with full respect for independence and sovereignty.”
With information from Patrick Oppmann of CNN in Havana
