WASHINGTON, Feb 6 (NNN-AGENCIES — US Democratic Senator and Chairman of the Senate Finance Committee Ron Wyden has introduced a bill to end Cuba’s blockade, his office announced on Friday.
“The U.S.-Cuba Trade Act of 2021 would repeal the major statutes that codify sanctions against Cuba, including the Helms-Burton Act and the Cuban Democracy Act, as well as other provisions that affect trade, investment, and travel with Cuba. It would also establish normal trade relations with the country,” the Senator explained in a press release.
Wyden also recognizes that the U.S. blockade on Cuba “is an artifact from the 1960s.” The Senate Finance Committee chairman also remarked that “to continue this outdated, harmful policy of isolation would be a failure of American leadership.”
The legislation would eliminate any prohibition on limiting annual remittances; establish all travel guarantees for U.S. citizens to visit Cuba; remove provisions restricting trade and other relations with the Caribbean country and legalize telecommunication services between both nations, among others.
The US-Cuba relationship has been plagued by distrust and antagonism since 1959, the year Fidel Castro overthrew a US-backed regime in Havana and established a socialist state allied with the Soviet Union.
During the half century that followed, successive US administrations pursued policies intended to isolate the island country economically and diplomatically. The United States has sanctioned Cuba longer than it has any other country.
President Barack Obama took some extraordinary steps to normalize US relations with Cuba, meeting with leader Raul Castro and restoring full diplomatic ties. However, President Donald J. Trump largely reversed course, hitting Cuba with a raft of new sanctions.
The Joe Biden administration could thaw relations once again, experts say, but it is unclear how quickly and to what extent. — NNN-AGENCIES
