The President of the United States, Joe Biden, announced this Monday that he will restore commercial flights to Cubawhich only reached the city of Havana, and that will suspend the limit of 1,000 dollars per quarter on remittances, reversing some of the harshest measures of the Donald Trump administration. In addition, the Democratic president also will reinstate a family reunification program that had been suspended for years.
The recent developments were communicated by the State Department and the ministry’s spokesman, Ned Price, maintained that the measures seek to show support for the Cuban people and give them the tools to achieve a “free life” outside of the “oppression” of the Government of their country and to help them seek better economic opportunities.
“With these actions we intend to support the aspirations of freedom and greater economic opportunities of Cubans so that they can lead a successful life at home. We continue to call on the Cuban government to immediately release political prisoners, to respect the fundamental freedoms of the people, and to allow them to determine their own future,” Price said in an official statement.
Thus, it was specified that both commercial flights and charter flights will be restored and that it will allow some types that former President Trump had restricted, such as those for educational purposes or related to professional purposes.
It will also stop the trips of groups of Americans destined to make contacts with the Cuban people, known in English as “people to people travel“, but individual visits of this kind will continue to be prohibited.
Until now, US airlines could only fly to Havana, leaving Cuban-Americans with few options to visit relatives in other parts of the island.
Likewise, the department commanded by Anthony Blinken announced that will increase its support to Cuban entrepreneurs with authorizations to access electronic commerce platformsamong other actions.
The policy change comes after an internal review within the Biden Administration that reportedly took months, after the July 11 anti-government demonstrations on the island, which led to the imposition of sanctions by the US in punishment for the imprisonment of some of its leaders and participants.
After these frictions, representatives of the US and Cuba met in Washington in April to discuss migration issues, in the first high-level dialogue between the two countries since Biden’s arrival at the White House.
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