authorities of Mexico and the European Union (EU) expressed this Tuesday their satisfaction with the changes in the United States’ policy towards Cuba announced this monday by the Biden Administration.
the Mexican president, Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador (AMLO)celebrated the announcement during his traditional morning press conference, although he still described the embargo as “medieval” and “genocidal”, the agency reports EFE.
“We celebrate the progress in that direction, it is a step although I would like there to be no blockade, because that is a violation of human rights, that is a medieval policy, it has nothing to do with our time and brotherhood that should exist in our peoples nor with universal brotherhood,” said the president, who was recently visiting the island, where he met with his counterpart Miguel Díaz-Canel and received the “José Martí” National Order.
The Mexican head of state acknowledged that the US government’s decision is an advance “albeit limited.” However, he said there shouldn’t be a blackout policy because it hurts a lot of people.
“Imagine that you can’t buy food, that people can’t buy the basics because the company that sells it is sanctioned for that isolation. It is a genocidal policy,” criticized AMLO, who has repeatedly opposed the US embargo on the island.
Alluding to the language of baseball, a sport that he practices and that is very popular in the United States, he said that these blocking policies “look bad.”
“That’s what they say in baseball when someone doesn’t do things right, they looked bad. That should not be done. On the other hand, which is also part of the same thing, it is the sovereign right of the peoples to have the form of their government and that no nation, no matter how powerful, intervenes in internal affairs,” said the Mexican president, who has recently asked Washington to include Cuba in the next Summit of the Americas.
Also the European Union
For his part, in a statement on behalf of the EU, its high representative for Foreign Policy, Josep Borrell, said that the community bloc “welcomes the announcement of May 16 by the US Government on the lifting of certain restrictions on Cuba.
“In particular, increasing consular services and visa processing, relaxing travel restrictions, eliminating the limit on remittances and supporting greater access to Internet services and electronic payments from the US,” Borrell listed, quoted for EFE.
The head of European diplomacy reiterated the EU’s general policy of “critical engagement” with Cuba and expressed his hope that all the pillars of the Political Dialogue and Cooperation Agreement will be implemented, of which, he recalled, the human rights are an essential part.
“The EU will continue to support measures that improve the difficult living conditions of the Cuban people,” Borrell said.
The Administration of President Joe Biden softened his country’s policy towards Cuba on Monday by reestablishing flights out of Havana from US airports, suspending limits on remittances and authorizing certain types of travel, although tourism to the island will continue to be prohibited.
Biden’s announcement marks a reversal of some of the policies implemented by his predecessor, Republican Donald Trump (2017-2021), which marked the end of the “thaw” era, promoted by President Barack Obama (2009- 2017) and his Cuban counterpart, Raúl Castro.
The shift in policy towards Cuba comes after an internal review within the Biden Administration that has taken months and a recent meeting between delegations from both countries. The announced measures will take effect in the coming weeks, a senior official who requested anonymity told reporters.
EFE / OnCuba
