U.S. Senator introduces bill to end blockade of Cuba

HAVANA, Cuba, Jan 19 (ACN) U.S. Senate Finance Committee Ranking Member Ron Wyden, D-Ore., introduced a bill to lift the blockade of Cuba as a motion to “repeal outdated sanctions on Cuba and establish normal trade relations with the island nation”, according to a dispatch of Prensa Latina news agency from Washington.

"Attempting to isolate Cuba is a failed and obsolete strategy that punishes the Cuban people and closes off U.S. influence and investment that could benefit both U.S. farmers and ranchers and Cuban small businesses," Wyden said.

The initiative, co-sponsored by fellow Oregon Senator Jeff Merkley, is bound to face too many obstacles to reach the Republican-controlled upper chamber, but reveals the interest of Congress members to normalize relations with the island and change U.S. Cuba policy.

Wayden had also introduced a similar bill in February 2021, when he pointed out that "continuing with that mechanism from the 1960s would be a failure". (…) The first Donald Trump administration (2017-2021) “increased tensions with Cuba, but I am optimistic about President Joe Biden's new diplomatic course”, he said then.

During his first term, Trump took more than 240 unprecedented and increasingly hostile measures against Cuba and, when Biden took office four years ago, he promised to review U.S. Cuba policy and "take a course of his own."

However, the Democrat kept in place the policies of his predecessor until January 14―six days before leaving the White House―when he announced a number of measures that Cuba deems correct but belated and insufficient: he removed Cuba from the list of state sponsors of terrorism (an act of elementary justice); waived Title III of the Helms-Burton Act, also known as the Liberty Act, for a period of six months; and rescinded National Security Presidential Memorandum 5 of 2017 to eliminate the so-called 'restricted list.'

The outgoing president's decision on Cuba's exclusion from the one-sided list honors the "wisdom and advice provided to him by many world leaders, especially in Latin America, who encouraged him to take these steps," according to a statement from White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre.

This would repeal U.S.-Cuba Trade Act key statutes codifying sanctions against Cuba, including the Helms-Burton Act and the Cuban Democracy Act, as well as other provisions hampering trade with, investment in, and travel to Cuba.
According to a 2016 finding by the International Trade Commission, easing restrictions on trade and business with Cuba could increase U.S. exports by $1.4 billion annually over the next five years.