The government of Joe Biden announced on Monday the lifting of a series of restrictions on Cuba, in particular on immigration, money transfer and air transport, a decision that announces strong counterclaims in the United States, where the issue is politically sensitive in the run-up to the elections. .
The announcement is the result of a review of US policy toward the Cuban communist government by the government of President Biden.
In a press release issued by the State Department, the Biden government states that it will resume a program that had been suspended for several years and facilitates the immigration process of members of the same family. It also promises to increase the processing capacity of visa applications in Havana.
In addition, Washington announces that it will remove the ceiling of $ 1,000 per quarter and per sender / recipient that it used until now in money transfers to Cuba, while it will now allow money to be sent between persons who do not belong to the same family. He stresses, however, that these financial flows will not allow individuals, or entities, accused of human rights violations to “get rich”.
The ceiling was decided by the previous administration of the Republican Donald Trump, as part of a series of measures against Havana during his term.
The Biden government will also allow flights between the United States and Cuba to increase, as well as services to and from cities other than the island’s capital. It will lift the ban on some group travel that has been in place so far.
However, financial sanctions against individuals and legal entities are still in force, Washington said.
The measures announced yesterday are “practical decisions designed to address the humanitarian situation” in Cuba and offer “economic opportunities” to Cubans, a senior US government official has explained.
Democratic President Joe Biden seeks a delicate balance between trying to “support the Cuban people” and supporting what he says is a desire for democracy on the one hand and austerity on the other under the communist government.
Last summer, he condemned the crackdown on protests in Cuba and took a series of measures against Cuban officials. Havana spoke of US-sponsored mobilizations.
The issue of relations with Cuba is politically hot in the US, where a large community of anti-communist exiles and Cuban-Americans live.
The announcement “there is a risk of sending the wrong message to the wrong people at the wrong time and for the wrong reasons,” immediately criticized Bob Menendez, chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, even though he is a prominent member of the Democratic Party.
The conservative opposition, for its part, has close ties to anti-communist exiles and goes so far as to speak of “sympathizers” of the communist regime in Havana within the ranks of the Democratic Party, something that Republican Sen. Marco Roucho reiterated yesterday.
The Florida senator, who lives in much of the Cuban diaspora in the United States, also said the Biden administration’s decision was “the first step toward a return to the failed policy of (former President Barack Obama) Obama toward Cuba.”
During his tenure, Mr. Obama – of which Joe Biden was vice president – made the historic choice of reheating with the Caribbean island. But on his arrival at the White House, Donald Trump hastened to toughen sanctions against Havana, overturning his Democratic predecessor’s decisions on bilateral relations.
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