The letter sent Wednesday to US President Joe Biden by three senatorswhich call for an end to the embargo on Cuba and more aid for the island’s private sector, was answered the following day by the US-Cuba Trade and Economic Council (Cubatrade) with various details.
“The US embargo against Cuba has failed,” stated emphatically the letter signed by Democrats Ron Wyden (Oregon) and Chris Van Hollen (Maryland) and Republican Cynthia M. Lummis (Wyoming). The legislators estimate that the measure, in force for 60 years, “has not facilitated regime change, nor promoted any notable improvement in human rights, democracy or economic freedom in Cuba.”
On the contrary, they believe, “it has limited the ability” of the United States government to defend its interests in Cuba, it has stifled opportunities for American companies, farmers, and ranchers, and it has harmed “both Americans and Cubans” in the Island. In addition, they consider that it is an easy “scapegoat” for the failures of the Cuban government.
Faced with this, they propose a series of measures, in addition to lifting the embargo, among which are supporting small private Cuban companies by providing “specific access” to US financial services, increasing trade in food and agricultural products between both countries and support access to information and “person to person” contact in Cuba.
Although the senators say they have “serious concerns about the repression by the Cuban government of the peaceful defense of democracy” and support the efforts of the Biden Administration “to hold the Cuban government accountable for human rights violations, civil rights and workers’ rights, including forced labor”, they insist that “unilateral sanctions have not brought about democratic change”.
This Thursday, Cubatrade responded in a statement to several of the points included in the letter, emphasizing in which a large part of the regulatory changes in the commercial relationship with Cuba depend on the decision of Havana. Thus, he suggests that they also send a letter to Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel.
For example, at the request of legislators for the US to make “specific efforts” so that small private Cuban entrepreneurs have access to US financial services, they state that in May 2022, the Biden and Harris Administration already authorized the first investment direct and direct financing to a private company in Cuba and owned by a Cuban. “Unfortunately, the Government of the Republic of Cuba has spent two years – and counting – without specifically authorizing or publishing regulations for the delivery of direct investment and direct financing to a private company in the Republic of Cuba owned by a national of the Republic of Cuba “.
They expose that in May 2022, the Biden and Harris Administration already authorized the first direct investment and direct financing to a private company in Cuba and owned by a Cuban
On the other hand, to the senators’ claim to establish a specific license from the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) to allow US banks to provide financial services to small Cuban companies in the private sector, the Council concedes that they are right. in asking for “efficient banking” for micro, small and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) and regrets that the Biden government continues to refuse to authorize direct banking correspondents.
“Incredibly, the Obama-Biden Administration (2009-2017) had authorized financial institutions based in the United States to have correspondent accounts in financial institutions located in the Republic of Cuba, but did not authorize financial institutions based in the Republic from Cuba to have correspondent accounts with financial institutions located in the United States,” details the organization led by businessman John Kavulich.
It would be useful, the statement continued, for the three senators to advocate before the Government of the Republic of Cuba regarding this lack of regulations on investment and financing, since “if issued” they would address the elements referred to in the letter to President Biden and would be an incentive for him to authorize direct correspondent banking.
Another of the points that Cubatrade makes is that part of what they are looking for, such as promoting the use of funds provided for in the programs authorized by the 2018 Agricultural Law for US farmers and ranchers who want to export to the Cuban market, is not the responsibility from the US Department of Agriculture, but from those who requested it and have not used it.
It is not the first time that Ron Wyden has made moves to bring the United States closer to the Cuban regime. Last December, the senator visited Havana, where he held a meeting with Díaz-Canel.
Two days later, He also met with opponents Martha Beatriz Roque Cabello and Julio Ferrer Tamayo. Roque, who recalled that the senator from Oregon is “one of the people who wants a rapprochement with the dictatorship,” said that the topic of conversation on that occasion was political prisoners and that he was confident that the senator “will not let this problem like this, but he is going to transfer it to the different committees of the Senate in which he is going to participate”.
Wyden is also the Chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, and in February 2021 he presented the United States-Cuba Trade Act 2021 to repeal the sanctions against the Government of the Island and try to normalize relations between both administrations.
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