In South Florida the reactions to Washington’s policy change towards Havana have manifested themselves in accordance with the traditional guidelines and political thought. Democrats welcome the easing announced by the Biden administration; Republicans speak of “betrayal” of the freedom of the Caribbean country.
“Policy toward Cuba is best carried out with a scalpel, not a machete,” former Miami Mayor Manny Diaz, chairman of the Florida Democratic Party, said in a statement.
According to Díaz, “the measures announced by the Biden administration are encouraging, especially for the thousands of families that continue to be separated by the draconian policy of the last administration of practically canceling immigration agreements and eliminating the parole of Cuban family reunification,” said Díaz.
All this because “the separation of Cuban families has been the most tragic result of the Cuban dictatorship and this step will help alleviate the burden of thousands of Cubans,” he added.
Ricardo Herrero, of the Cuba Study Group, an organization based in Washington DC in favor of rapprochement with the island, also said in a statement that he “applauds the Biden administration for taking measures to implement a more sensible policy towards Cuba, which complies with the President’s campaign promise to support the Cuban people.
Yesterday’s decisions to restore authorized commercial and charter flights to provincial cities, liberalize travel rules for US citizens, remove limits on individual remittances and donations, and ease support for the emerging private sector will ease some of the undeserved economic pressure. that Cuban citizens overwhelmingly feel, he stressed.
“These new measures,” he said, “in no way invalidate the just demands for the release of political prisoners and an end to the Cuban government’s hostility toward civil society. The Biden administration must continue to press authorities to release all those unjustly detained following the historic protests of last July, and the Cuban government must be aware that the United States is unlikely to reopen if the situation of human rights on the Island does not improve.
Herrero stressed that the administration’s decision is the beginning of a page turn in a “maximum pressure” policy implemented by former President Donald Trump, who by doing little more than punishing the Cuban people “for the misdeeds of his government” , worsened some of the root causes driving migration. “The ball is now in the court of the Cuban government to take unilateral but complementary measures, including in terms of individual rights and economic reform that can encourage a greater rapprochement,” he emphasized.
On the other side of the spectrum, the Republican federal congressman Carlos Giménez issued a tweet in which he assures: “I have said it before and I say it now: you should never listen to what Biden says; you have to see what he is doing. His message to the Cuban exile community is clear. Biden does not care and will not advance the cause of freedom and democracy in Cuba. Biden is a disgrace.”
His colleague Mario Díaz-Balart reacted in terms of “betrayal” by describing those changes as a “concession” from Washington to Havana.
“The repeated concessions of the Biden administration to the Cuban dictatorship are a betrayal of our nation’s commitment to human rights and freedom, and to the Cuban people, who are fighting for a democratic transition,” he said in a statement signed by several congressmen. Republicans, including Floridians Giménez and María Elvira Salazar and Senators Marco Rubio, Ted Cruz and Rick Scott.
“During last year’s historic protests against the regime in Cuba, President Biden said, ‘The United States stands with the brave Cubans who have taken to the streets to oppose 62 years of repression under a communist regime.’ Yet today, while hundreds of activists remain illegally imprisoned, the White House is resurrecting President Obama’s failed policy of unilateral concessions to the criminal Castro/Díaz-Canel dictatorship. Instead of supporting the Cuban people’s pleas for freedom through the expansion of democratic programming, broadcasting, global diplomacy, and sanctions against their oppressors, the Biden White House is rewarding the longest communist dictatorship in the Western Hemisphere with not only high-level talks, easing sanctions, increasing travel, access to the United States and our financial institutions. Appeasing Cuba’s murderous regime does not meet the legal requirements of the law and undermines US support for Cuba’s democratic opposition.
Meanwhile, Cuban-American Senator Bob Menéndez, head of the powerful Senate Foreign Relations Committee, despite being a Democrat, spoke in the same direction.
“To be clear, those who still believe that increased travel will bring about democracy in Cuba are simply in a state of denial,” Menendez said. “For decades, the world has been traveling to Cuba and nothing has changed. For years the United States foolishly eased travel restrictions on the grounds that millions of US dollars would bring freedom and nothing changed.”
On Monday, the Biden administration announced the dismemberment of several policies implemented by former President Donald Trump that sought to stop the thaw between the two countries.
Washington has decided to begin processing immigrant visas at the Embassy in Havana, although it will maintain some processing at the one in Georgetown, Guyana. It also decided to resume commercial flights to Cuban provinces and put an end to the limit on remittances.
Professional and educational trips by Americans to the Island were also authorized, as well as group trips with a general license.
And, finally, economic assistance to Cuban entrepreneurs with bonuses for US banks, as well as virtual banking and payments.
answering questions from OnCubatwo senior administration officials said that “at the moment there is nothing to say about the increase for Cubans from one to five years of multiple visas, as implemented by the Obama administration.”
They also expressed: “in relation to Georgetown, the plan is to transfer the processing to the Embassy of Havana, before the end of the year, but now there is no defined date.”
