The Cuban Handshake

Washington, Jan 18 (Prensa Latina) Senate Finance Committee Ranking Member Ron Wyden, a Democrat from Oregon, presented a bill to end the blockade against Cuba on Friday.

Wyden introduced US-Cuba Trade Act of 2025 “to repeal outdated sanctions on Cuba and establish normal trade relations with the island nation,” he said in a statement.

“Trying to isolate Cuba is a failed and obsolete strategy that punishes the Cuban people and closes off American influence and investment that could benefit both American farmers and ranchers and Cuban small businesses,” said the legislator, who was the chairman of the Finance Committee.

The initiative, co-sponsored by Oregon Senator Jeff Merkley, would have to go through a path that is too tortuous to advance in the Senate, controlled by Republicans.

However, the proposal shows the interest of members of Congress in achieving a normalization of relations with the neighboring country and a change in policy towards Cuba.

In February 2021, Wayden also introduced a similar bill and said in a statement that “continuing with this mechanism from the 1960s would be a failure.”

He added that the US Congress had an obligation to improve relations between the two countries as quickly as possible.

Donald Trump’s first administration (2017-2021) increased “tensions with Cuba during his disastrous period in office, but I am optimistic about President Joe Biden’s new diplomatic course,” said Wyden, who was the head of the Senate Finance Committee, at the time. Previously, in 2017, Wyden presented another bill for the elimination of the unilateral blockade imposed on Cuba more than 60 years ago and it also failed to prosper.

Since the beginning of his first term in office, in January 2017, Trump began to implement unprecedented measures against Cuba, which stood out for their systematic hostility and exceeded the number of 240.

When Biden took office four years ago, he promised to review the United States policy on Cuba, and “take his own course.”

However, the Democrat remained in line with the policy of his predecessor and on January 14, six days before leaving the White House, he announced a group of measures – although late and insufficient – in the right direction.

Biden 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justice); waived Title III of the Helms-Burton Act, also known as the Libertad Act, for a period of six months; and rescinded National Security Presidential Memorandum 5 of 2017 to remove the so-called “restricted list.”

The outgoing president’s decision to remove Cuba from the list unilaterally 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.

The US-Cuba Trade Act would repeal major statutes codifying sanctions against Cuba, including the Helms-Burton Act and the Cuban Democracy Act, as well as other provisions affecting trade, investment, and travel to Cuba; it would also establish normal trade relations with the country.

According to a 2016 finding by the International Trade Commission, easing restrictions on trade and business with Cuba might increase US exports by 1.4 billion dollars annually over the next five years.

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Montevideo, Jan 17 (Prensa Latina) The latest measures of the US government towards Cuba are insufficient in face of the blockade policy, Pablo Alvarez, president of the Commission for International Affairs and Relations of the Frente Amplio de Uruguay, said.

Alvarez told Prensa Latina about the decision of the outgoing US government to remove the Caribbean island from its unilateral list of countries sponsoring terrorism.

This is an inclusion inherited from Donald Trump’s administration, which caused millions in losses to the Cuban economy in order to suffocate it and cut off its finances.

It is a step in the right direction, but limited in the face of the continuation of the economic, financial and trade encirclement that Washington has exercised against Cuba for more than 60 years, the leader pointed out in front of the parliament. He considered that this policy of blockade is criminal and has the Cuban population as its main victim.

In doing so, the US government aims to prevent the sovereign right of an entire people to exercise self-determination, he stressed.

Therefore, he said, we will continue to support the people of Cuba so that one day the blockade will come to an end.

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Bogota, Jan 16 (Prensa Latina) Colombian Deputy Foreign Minister Jorge Rojas on Wednesday advocated for an end of the blockade imposed for more than 60 years against Cuba by successive governments of the United States.

Rojas expressed this opinion to local W Radio, to which he mentioned Cuba’s recent removal from the State Sponsors of Terrorism (SSOT) list that Washington unilaterally draws up.

He commented that since the beginning of the Government of President Gustavo Petro in 2022, there has been insistence that Cuba be removed from that list, and that its removal from that designation reverses an injustice.

“Cuba has only supported the peace process in Colombia. We have been working with the outgoing Government of the United States, which made this decision, which we welcome and which we hope can be complemented with measures to end the blockade,” Rojas pointed out

He also recalled that Colombia is voting to lift the economic, financial and commercial blockade, which, he acknowledged, is a policy that only serves to harm the people.

In addition to Rojas, Vice President Francia Márquez also demanded the elimination of the rest of the punitive measures against Cuba.

He pointed out that the exclusion from the terrorist list is progress, “but the blockade that has done so much harm to Cuban families still needs to be fully lifted.”

Other political organizations, such as the Common Party, welcomed the decision announced on Tuesday by the White House to remove Cuba from the list, and insisted on the urgency of lifting the economic blockade.

“Cuba should never have been on that list, we know that these actions have been part of the reprisals against the Caribbean island that shows the world that only solidarity can save us as a species,” said that group.

Communist Party of Colombia President Jaime Caicedo assured that Cuba’s removal from the list is the triumph of reason and the persistence of its people, its government, its Party, its Revolution and the clamor of solidarity of the peoples of the world.

He informed that they would continue to fight for the total lifting of the blockade.

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Moscow, Jan 16 (Prensa Latina) Activists of the Russian solidarity movement with Cuba joined in congratulating Cuba’s exclusion from the United States arbitrary list of states allegedly sponsoring terrorism.

In their weekly program on YouTube “Europe for Cuba”, the friends of Cuba described the recent decision of the U.S. authorities as a great victory for the Cuban people.

“Cuba’s removal from this list is an example of the actions of the solidarity movements of the world, including our collaboration from Russia, to do justice and achieve this positive objective deserved by the Cubans who have been fighting for more than six decades against Washington’s coercive measures,” declared the coordinator of the channel and head of the Russian Committee for the end of the blockade of Cuba, Lena Loshkina.

Loshkina also stressed that it is the right time to continue raising the world’s voices so that the US administrations, once and for all, understand the inhumane and aggressive nature of the sanctions to which Cuba is exposed. She also highlighted the repeal of the financial measures contained in Title III of the Helms-Burton Act, which is controversial and harmful to Cuban citizens.

Also present at the program was the Cuban ambassador in Moscow, Julio Garmendia, who took the opportunity to thank the Russian friends of solidarity for their unconditional support to Cuba. “This victory is not only of the Cuban people, it is a victory of all the friends of Cuba, of many people in the world such as former presidents, intellectuals, parliamentarians, press workers, friends of solidarity in any corner of the world who worked day after day for this moment to arrive,” the diplomat acknowledged.

Garmedia said that all of Cuba welcomed the decision of the United States, considering that justice is being done with respect, to the history of Cuba, “a country that far from being a sponsor of terrorism, is a historic fighter against terrorism.”

Garmendia added that, despite being limited in nature, the decision of President Joe Biden’s administration is going in the right direction and lines up with the sustained and firm demand of the Cuban Government, people, and the world in general.

The ambassador stressed that although it is a positive action, it is not a reason to boast because the blockade remains, and it is time to maintain the historic struggle for its lifting.

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Havana, Jan 16 (Prensa Latina) Cuba’s Ministry of Tourism (MINTUR) reported that the recovery of the travel industry continues with a record number of Russian travelers.

On its Facebook account, the MINTUR certified that authorities celebrated that 185,800 Russian tourists had visited Cuba, accounting for a significant growth in travelers’ interest in the Caribbean island.

They added that this increase not only highlights the attraction that Cuba exerts as a tourist destination, but also the warmth of the people and the wealth of its culture.

The MINTUR expressed gratitude to all those who choose to enjoy the Cuban benefits, such as beaches, nature, heritage, history and traditions.

The news was replicated by Cubadebate, which pointed out that this record was opportunely communicated by the tourism advisor at the Cuban Embassy in Moscow, Cristina León Iznaga, who was quoted by the Association of Tour Operators of Russia.

The figure is one percent above the 2023 report (184,800), and five percent compared to the travelers received in 2019, the year before the Covid-19 pandemic (nearly 178,000).

The historic record is close to the estimate of 200,000 Russian visitors in 2024, which was released at the time by the MINTUR.

In this regard, Cuban Minister of Tourism Juan Carlos García noted that the goal in the coming years is to increase the Russian tourist flow to 500,000 visitors a year.

Direct flights currently depart from Moscow to Havana, Varadero and Cayo Coco, major tourist destination in the Cuban archipelago.

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