The relaxation concerns in particular immigration procedures, money transfers and air connections. The Cuban government greets “a small step in the right direction”, while regretting a “limited scope”.
Le Monde with AFP
The decision promises to arouse a keen debate as the subject is politically sensitive in the United States. The Biden administration announced, Monday, May 16, the lifting of a series of restrictions targeting Cuba, a country under embargo of Washington since 1962.
According to a statement from the State Department, the Biden administration will notably replace a program suspended for several years, which facilitated immigration procedures for members of the same family. It also promises to increase the processing capacity of visa requests in Havana.
The United States will also delete the ceiling of $ 1,000 (950 euros) per quarter and per transmitter/beneficiary who hitherto limited money transfers to Cuba, and will also authorize silver shipments outside the family setting. The State Department specifies, however, that these financial flows must not “enrich” people or entities violating human rights. This ceiling had been decided by former president Donald Trump, who had taken a stolen from measures against Cuba during his mandate. Financial sanctions targeting Cuban personalities or entities remain in place, made it possible to specify the administration Biden.
The Biden administration will also increase the number of flights between the United States and the Island, by authorizing the service of other cities than Havana. It will also authorize certain group trips which are currently prohibited.
“Develop economic opportunities”
These announcements, immediately praised as “a small step in the right direction”, “but of limited scope”, by the Cuban government, is the result of a revision of American policy towards the communist regime, which had been Launched by American President Joe Biden.
The measures announced Monday are “practical decisions intended to respond to the humanitarian situation” in Cuba and to “develop the economic opportunities” of Cubans, explained a senior American administration.
In Havana, the Minister of Foreign Affairs Bruno Rodriguez has recognized that these are “positive measures” but which “absolutely do not modify the blockade or the main measures of economic seat taken by Trump”.
“Neither the objectives, nor the main instruments of the United States policy against Cuba, which is a failure, change,” he added in a declaration published on the website of the ministry, stressing the ” Provision “of his government” to start a respectful dialogue and on an equal footing with the government of the United States “.
The Democratic President Joe Biden seeks to find a delicate balance, between willing will to “support the Cuban people” and encourage their democratic aspirations on the one hand, and firmness against the communist regime on the other. He had condemned, in the summer of 2021 the repression of important demonstrations in Cuba and took a series of sanctions against Cuban officials.
criticisms even on the part of Democrats
The subject of relations with Cuba is politically burning in the United States, which house a large community of immigrants of Cuban origin.
“The announcement of the day risks sending the wrong message to bad people at the wrong time and for bad reasons,” immediately criticized Bob Menendez, president of the Senate Foreign Affairs Committee, and yet a member like Joe Biden of the Democratic Party.
The conservative opposition, on the other hand, has long been associated with the virulent criticism of the communist regime for a long time. Republican senator Marco Rubio accused the Biden administration of counting in its ranks “sympathizers” of the Communist regime of Cuba. The elected official of Florida, where the majority of the Cuban diaspora in the United States resides, also said that the government’s decision represented “the first steps towards a return to the failed Obama policies on Cuba”.
During his mandate, Barack Obama, of which Joe Biden was vice-president, had chosen a policy of historical opening with the Caribbean Island, which had allowed a brief uptop in relations between the two countries . Arrived at the White House, Donald Trump, however, hardened the sanctions against Havana, returning to the policy of the Democratic President.