Statement by Karine Jean-Pierre, Press Secretary, on steps to support the Cuban people:
Since the beginning of the Biden-Harris administration, US policy towards Cuba has focused on empowering the Cuban people to freely decide their future and on promoting respect for human rights. This single goal has guided our policy to reunite Cuban families, strengthen cultural and educational ties between Cuba and the United States, allow remittances to flow more freely to the Cuban people, and increase support for independent Cuban entrepreneurs.
In this spirit, we are taking several steps to support the Cuban people in the framework of the agreement with the Catholic Church under the leadership of Pope Francis and to improve the living conditions of the Cuban people. First, we announced to Congress today that President Biden has decided that Cuba should no longer be designated as a state sponsor of terrorism. Second, we announced to Congress that the President has granted a six-month waiver from Title III of the Helms-Burton Act, otherwise known as the Libertad Act. And finally, President Biden rescinded Presidential Memorandum No. 5 of 2017 on national security policy in Cuba to lift the so-called restricted list, and thus other regulations on U.S. persons and entities' contacts with Cuban persons and entities beyond what is currently prescribed by U.S. law. The Catholic Church has also informed us that the Cuban government will soon begin releasing a significant number of political prisoners.
By taking these steps to strengthen the ongoing dialogue between the Cuban government and the Catholic Church, President Biden is also honoring the wisdom and counsel of many world leaders, especially from Latin America, who have encouraged him to take these steps to best promote the human rights of the Cuban people. With these steps, we acknowledge the Catholic Church's efforts to facilitate Cuba's own constructive measures to restore the freedom of its citizens and enable conditions that will improve the living conditions of the Cuban people.
Statement by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Cuba
The United States government has announced the following decision:
- Remove Cuba from the State Department's list of countries that allegedly sponsor terrorism;
- To use presidential faculty to prevent the courts of the United States from taking action with respect to suits that might be brought under Title III of the Helms-Burton Act; and
- Eliminate the Cuban Restricted Entities List, which identifies a group of institutions with which U.S. citizens and institutions may not conduct financial transactions that impacted third countries.
Despite its limited scope, this is a decision that points in the right direction and is in line with the sustained and determined demand of the Government and the Cuban people, as well as the broad, strong and repeated call of many governments, particularly those of Latin America and the Caribbean; Cubans living abroad; political, religious and social organisations; and many political figures in the United States and elsewhere. The Cuban Government expresses its gratitude to all of them for their contribution and sensitivity.
This decision puts an end to specific coercive measures which, along with many others, are seriously damaging the Cuban economy and having a serious impact on the population. This issue is, and has been, an ongoing issue in all official exchanges between Cuba and the US Government.
It is important to stress that the economic blockade and a large part of the dozens of coercive measures that have come into force since 2017 to further strengthen it remain in force, with full extraterritorial impact and in violation of international law and the human rights of all Cubans.
The following are just a few examples: the illegal and aggressive pursuit of fuel supplies that Cuba is legally entitled to import continues. The cruel and absurd persecution of legitimate international agreements on health cooperation that Cuba has signed with other countries continues, threatening to deprive millions of people of health services and limiting the potential of the Cuban public health system. International financial transactions by Cuba or any national who may be linked to Cuba continue to be subject to prohibitions and repression. Merchant ships calling at Cuban ports continue to be threatened.
In addition, U.S. citizens, companies or subsidiaries of U.S. corporations may not do business with Cuba or Cuban entities, with very limited and regulated exceptions. Harassment, intimidation and threats against citizens of any country who intend to do business with or invest in Cuba remain part of official U.S. policy. Cuba continues to be a destination that the U.S. government has banned U.S. citizens from visiting.
The economic war is still ongoing and continues to be a major obstacle to the development and recovery of the Cuban economy, with high human costs for the population; and it continues to be an incentive for emigration.
The decision announced by the United States today remedies, to a very limited extent, some aspects of a cruel and unjust policy. It is a remedy that is being introduced now, on the verge of a change of government, although it should have been implemented years ago as an elementary act of justice, without anything being demanded in return and without excuses being invented to justify inaction if there was a genuine intention to do the right thing. The acknowledgement of the truth, the complete absence of reasons for such a designation and the exemplary performance of our country in the fight against terrorism, which has been recognised by several US government agencies, should have been enough to remove Cuba from the arbitrary list of state sponsors of terrorism.
It is known that the government of this country could reverse the measures taken today in the future, as it has done in the past, and as an expression of its lack of legitimacy, ethics, consistency and reason in its behaviour towards Cuba.
For this, U.S. politicians usually do not take the time to find an honest justification, as long as the vision described in 1960 by then Undersecretary Lester Mallory and his expressed intention to bring the Cuban people to their knees through economic siege, poverty, hunger and despair remains valid. They will not have time to seek justification until this government is able to recognise or accept Cuba's right to self-determination and is prepared to pay the political price of the international isolation caused by its genocidal and illegal economic stranglehold on Cuba.
Cuba will continue to confront and denounce the policies of economic warfare, foreign interference programmes and disinformation and discrediting operations that are funded by tens of millions of dollars annually from the US federal budget.
It will also remain ready to develop respectful relations with the country based on dialogue and non-interference in the internal affairs of both countries, despite their differences.
whitehouse/ cubaminrex.cu/ gnews.cz - RoZ
ILLUSTRATIVE PHOTO - pixabay
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