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The United States government announced on Monday a series of measures that seek to soften the policy towards Cuba and that represent a reversal of the decisions made by former President Donald Trump.
Thus, the State Department reported that commercial flights to several Cuban cities, which since August 2020 only arrived in Havana, will be restored, and the limit of US$1,000 per quarter on remittances will be suspended.
“Cuba faces an unprecedented humanitarian crisis And our policy will continue to focus on empowering the Cuban people to help them create a future free from repression and economic suffering,” the Biden administration said in a statement.
State Department spokesman Ned Price called on the Cuban government to “immediately” release the “political prisoners” and respect the fundamental rights of its people.
image source, Getty Images
The policy change comes following an internal review within the Biden administration that has taken months.
Representatives from the United States and Cuba met in Washington in April to discuss migration issues, in the first high-level dialogue between the two countries since Biden’s arrival at the White House.
Other measures
Among the new measures presented this Monday, the Biden government announced support for broad internet access on the island, as well as allowing remittances to people who are not family members.
“We will ensure that remittances flow more freely to the Cuban peoplewithout enriching those who perpetrate human rights abuses,” Price said.
image source, Getty Images
Flights between the US and Cuba had been suspended in the Donald Trump government.
He also announced that he will expand visa processing. This includes educational, professional meeting and research trips.
The announcement comes months following the strong protests that broke out on the island and for which the Cuban government arrested hundreds of people.
“A limited step in the right direction”
In a statement, the Cuban Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Minrex) described Biden’s measures as “a limited step in the right direction.”
“Announcements they do not modify the lock at allnor the main measures of economic siege taken by Trump,” says the Minrex in a statement published in the state newspaper Granma.
“It does not reverse the arbitrary and fraudulent inclusion of Cuba on the State Department’s list of countries that are allegedly sponsors of terrorism, one of the main causes of the difficulties that Cuba encounters for its commercial and financial transactions in many parts of the world. “, keep going.
“It is, however, a limited step in the right direction, a response to the denunciation of the Cuban people and government,” he adds.
US senator blond framea Cuban-born Republican from Florida, rejected the new White House policies.
“The regime in Cuba threatened Biden with mass migration and has supporters within the administration and the result is that today we see the first steps towards Obama’s policies on Cuba,” he wrote on Twitter.
image source, Getty Images
Democratic Senator Bob Menendez has condemned the Biden administration’s plans to ease tensions with Cuba
the democrat Bob Menendez He also expressed his disagreement: “Let’s be clear, those who still think that increasing travel will serve to promote democracy in Cuba are simply refusing to recognize reality.”
From Miami, Ramon Saul Sanchezpresident of the Cuban dissident Democracy Movement, supported the reestablishment of commercial flights since it regulates “competition between airlines” and that benefits Cubans inside and outside the island, he told the EFE agency.
However, he criticized that Biden “has broken his word” when he assured that “he would consult with the Cuban exile community, as an integral part of this nation and our land” on this type of decision.
Cuba between Obama and Trump
In 2015, former President Barack Obama had removed Cuba from the US government’s list of countries that sponsor terrorism, on which it had been since 1982.
This was an important step in the “thaw” that a year later would result in both countries resuming diplomatic relations.
image source, Getty Images
Barack Obama was the first US president to visit Cuba in almost 90 years.
But that rapprochement, like many other policies of President Obama, was reversed by the government of Donald Trump, who gave way to a heavy-handed policy towards the island.
The announcement to include Cuba once more on the list, which only includes North Korea, Iran and Syria, was made by the Trump administration a couple of weeks before the inauguration of President Joe Biden in January 2021.
Washington bans countries it considers sponsors of terrorism from exporting or selling weapons, controls certain exports that would also enhance its military capabilities, and restricts economic assistance.
The countries on the list They also cannot access loans from the International Monetary Fund. and other global institutions.
But now, with the announcement of relaxation of policies towards the island, many wonder if President Baiden will once once more remove Cuba from the list, as happened when he was vice president.
First step to improve relations between the US and Cuba
For Will Grant, correspondent in Mexico and Central America
The news will be a relief to thousands of Cubans who are desperate to see their families in Florida and elsewhere in the United States.
The island is experiencing, perhaps, its sharpest exodus since the Cold War. There are many Cubans traveling to Nicaragua and then through Central America to the US border with Mexico.
After 2016, the Trump administration implemented a host of new economic sanctions on the communist-ruled island, following President Obama relaxed the same rules.
Coupled with the economic downturn caused by the coronavirus pandemic and mismanagement by the state, the economy in Cuba has been in dire straits in recent years.
These changes represent the White House’s first step toward some form of renormalization of relations with Cuba.
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