Former Florida Democratic Congressman Joe Garcia has pointed out in a interview with OnCuba that the Government of Joe Biden will take more steps in its policy of rapprochement towards the Island, the first of which, remittances, is already underway. This is what he points out in the conversation he had with the outlet in which he explains his controversial trip to Havana, in which he met with Miguel Díaz-Canel and which, he defends, does not contradict the spirit of Jorge Mas Canosa, deceased historical leader from exile in Miami and Garcia’s mentor.
“It doesn’t seem to me that he did anything that he thought was inconsistent with the story of Jorge Mas Canosa. Remember that he once debated with Ricardo Alarcón,” alleges the politician, whose interest is focused on promoting cooperation between Florida and the Island through through SMEs. Bluntly, he assures that “the problem of Cuba cannot be solved without Miami”
“The rules [del embargo] that apply to the Government and Cuban companies do not apply to small and medium-sized companies [privadas] in Cuba,” says García. According to his words, despite not being a businessman, he has been working for some time to establish relationships allowed by the embargo laws and despite the obstacles in Havana.
García had the opportunity to verify that the situation of need of the population is extreme and he considers that the Cuban community abroad can help
The former congressman, born in Miami in 1963 and close to former President Barack Obama, recounts his trip to the Island last week. In it, he had the opportunity to verify that the situation of need of the population is extreme and he considers that the community Cuban abroad can help develop initiatives that improve the lives of Cubans without going through the State, which is possible, he indicates, through private businesses.
“They can buy without restrictions. They are entrepreneurs and the law and regulations that Obama wrote allow them to do business with SMEs,” he points out. Asked about the timid advances of the current president, García affirms that there will be more: “[Joe Biden] He has done a little and will do more. Look, the embassy reopened, flights reopened, not only to Havana but to the interior, and now they are working to improve remittances.”
Joe García participated in a meeting that has generated a lot of discomfort in the sector considered the hardest in exile, which is no longer only made up of political exiles from the 1960s, as before. The democrat reflects on the most recent wave of emigrants, many of them for economic reasons and who appear, upon arrival in the US, more radicalized than before.
“That is a question that the Government of Cuba should ask itself, because those are children of the Revolution. Here you cannot blame Batista, nor the CIA, nor the US government, nor the Russians. Who is to blame for this reality, for the majority of people between the ages of 35 and under arriving with perceptions about their own country that I could not instill, nor could anyone else? The question is this: if Cuba cannot speak to His children, who is he talking to? The ones he is going to bury?”, he argues.
The politician defends himself against that sector that has criticized his trip more vigorously and affirms that he was with a whole group of people gathered to “study the issue of SMEs”
The politician defends himself against that sector that has criticized his trip more vigorously and affirms that he was with a whole group of people gathered to “study the issue of SMEs and forms of investment in Cuba” who were gathered in a room where Miguel Díaz-Canel gave a speech after which he had the opportunity to talk with him.
“There are things that I am going to reserve. But I said that the issue of SMEs had to be followed, that it was an opportunity, and that the decisions that were made had to be implemented. I also advocated for the people who are imprisoned in prisons in Cuba after the events of July last year and other events,” he says. He acknowledges, however, that there was no reaction. “We’ll see if she heard me. But she heard me.”
The former congressman insists that neither his trip nor his conversations with Cuban officials nor his intention to do business on the island clash with the ideas of his admired Mas Canosa, whom he maintains was present at his meeting.
“What I know is that I have buried many friends, men who fought with weapons in Cuba, and that their memories, their affection, their deep love for the Cuban nation impacted me. I have buried many. Some of them, in important positions, all they want is a dignified reunion with their country. And I think it’s something the country owes them too. No 80-year-old man, which must be the age of a brigade member [de Playa Girón] younger, is a threat and something that the Government of Cuba should fear”.
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