Since anti-government demonstrations took place in Cuba, the US has thrown its support behind the protesters, and President Biden has said he “stands” with the Cuban people. But on Thursday, Biden said he would not ease restrictions on remittances to Cuba imposed by the Trump administration.
Sanctions imposed by the Trump administration caused Western Union to shut down its money-sending service to Cuba last November, making it more difficult for Cuban-Americans to send funds to their families.
“There are a number of things that we would consider doing to help the people of Cuba, but it would require different circumstances or a guarantee that they would not be taken advantage of by the government,” Biden said on Friday.
“For example, the ability to send remittances back to Cuba. I would not do that now because of the fact it’s highly likely that the regime would confiscate those remittances or big chunks,” he said.
Whatever fee the Cuban government collects of the remittances sent from the US is worth it to the hundreds of thousands of Cuban Americans who used to send them. Before the restrictions, about 700,000 people in the US sent remittances to Cuba annually, and Western Union transferred between $900 million to $1.5 billion to the country each year.
As a candidate, President Biden vowed to ease sanctions on Cuba reimposed by the Trump administration. But so far, he has not delivered on the campaign promise. In June, the US and Israel were the only two countries that voted against ending the embargo at the UN General Assembly.
Biden lied about removing Trump’s sanctions, so is there any reason I shouldn’t believe he’s lying yet again about Regime Confiscations?
What Biden wants is an impossibility. There is no way to “guarantee that they would not be taken advantage of by the government”. So with the choice between the people getting at least some kind of help, or nothing, Biden chooses nothing.
Why on earth does Biden claim the Cuban president is like him-uncaring and stealing from his people? Cuba has healthcare (it even exports it), education and if not denied a the ingredients, decent lives for its people. The USA sanctions have stopped most imports and are based on spite.
Cuba fought to free its people from Spain. They were winning when we jumped in at the tail end of the war for their independence. Hence, the Spanish-American war.
We did not allow Cuban representatives to attend the signing of the truce. The U.S. obtained the control of Cuba, Puerto Rico, the Philippine Islands,
and Guam.
One of the links here tells about Biden’s willingness to “send” Covid vaccines to Cuba. Doesn’t the poor old guy realize Cuba has created several of its own vaccines?
I don’t believe the US would be providing those vaccines for free, so it looks like just another ploy to impoverish Cuba. This policy would go hand in hand with the refusal to permit Cubans to send money home.
The arrogance of the US régime of Biden and Blinken continues.