On Monday, the Biden administration announced a series of measures they believe will “increase support for the Cuban people and safeguard our national security interests.”
On the ground in Cuba, people like Abdel Legra, an activist who is critical of the government say some of the policies are welcomed.
Legra calls the policy changes with the American embassy in Havana, necessary.
The Biden administration says it is increasing consular service capacity in order to reinstate the Cuban Family Reunification Parole Program, which would increase consular services and processing of visas; more travel to the island, and increase the amount of money families can send back to the island.
“La apertura de la embajada americana era necesaria,” Legra said which translates to the opening of the American embassy was necessary.
Cuban Dissident Manuel Morua says the most important policy change is the lifting of limits on remittances or the money Cuban Americans can send to the island.
Under President Trump, there was a $1,000 limit per quarter which is now gone.
The Biden administration is also changing travel policy, so commercial flights can also land in other cities beyond Havana which will undoubtedly increase travel to the island.
Both Legra and Morua both remain concerned over the possibility some of these policies still benefit the Cuban government.
Cuba remains in a deep economic crisis mostly critics say, because of its inefficient centralized economy worsened by the pandemic and highlighted by the nationwide, historic protests last July.
Elements all play a part in the ongoing record-breaking Cuban migration which Nicaragua is facilitating by allowing Cubans to leave the island and get to the U.S. Mexico border.
“Migration numbers that are on pace to outstrip the total scale of the Mariel boatlift of 1980. It stands to reason that the United States is gonna try to respond in some way,” U.M. history professor and Cuba expert Michael Bustamante said.
Cuban expert and former University of Miami professor Andy Gomez is not the only one who thinks the current Cuban migration crisis at the southern border is partly why the Biden administration is undoing some of the Trump policies.
“I think it’s a result or a reaction to the large numbers of migrants, Cuban migrants that we have seen. They tell me this is not in the long run gonna help them or the Cuban economy or the situation. They still see no future for them on the island, their goal is to get out of there as soon as possible,” Gomez said.
The Cuban government called the change a limited step in the right direction.
The decision does not modify the U.S. embargo, the fraudulent inclusion of Cuba in the list of countries who sponsor terror nor the majority of the coercive actions of maximum pressure by the Trump administration which still affect the Cuban people said Cuba’s Foreign Affairs Miniter Bruno Rodriguez on Twitter.
Gomez believes the policy shift may be too late to stop the attempted mass migration at the border by the island’s young people.
“They tell me this is not, in the long run, going to help them or the Cuban economy or the situation. They still see no future for them on the island, their goal is to get out of there as soon as possible,” Gomez said.
A hostel owner in Cuba says, “Ya muchas promesas se han dado anterior mente y seguimos en las mismas,” too many promises in the past, and we’re still in the same situation.
The United States says it has not been decided whether or not Cuba, Nicaragua, or Venezuela will be invited to the summit of the Americas this coming summer in Los Angeles.
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On the ground in Cuba, people like Abdel Legra, an activist who is critical of the government say some of the policies are welcomed.
Legra calls the policy changes with the American embassy in Havana, necessary.
The Biden administration says it is increasing consular service capacity in order to reinstate the Cuban Family Reunification Parole Program, which would increase consular services and processing of visas; more travel to the island, and increase the amount of money families can send back to the island.
“La apertura de la embajada americana era necesaria,” Legra said which translates to the opening of the American embassy was necessary.
Cuban Dissident Manuel Morua says the most important policy change is the lifting of limits on remittances or the money Cuban Americans can send to the island.
Under President Trump, there was a $1,000 limit per quarter which is now gone.
The Biden administration is also changing travel policy, so commercial flights can also land in other cities beyond Havana which will undoubtedly increase travel to the island.
Both Legra and Morua both remain concerned over the possibility some of these policies still benefit the Cuban government.
Cuba remains in a deep economic crisis mostly critics say, because of its inefficient centralized economy worsened by the pandemic and highlighted by the nationwide, historic protests last July.
Elements all play a part in the ongoing record-breaking Cuban migration which Nicaragua is facilitating by allowing Cubans to leave the island and get to the U.S. Mexico border.
“Migration numbers that are on pace to outstrip the total scale of the Mariel boatlift of 1980. It stands to reason that the United States is gonna try to respond in some way,” U.M. history professor and Cuba expert Michael Bustamante said.
Cuban expert and former University of Miami professor Andy Gomez is not the only one who thinks the current Cuban migration crisis at the southern border is partly why the Biden administration is undoing some of the Trump policies.
“I think it’s a result or a reaction to the large numbers of migrants, Cuban migrants that we have seen. They tell me this is not in the long run gonna help them or the Cuban economy or the situation. They still see no future for them on the island, their goal is to get out of there as soon as possible,” Gomez said.
The Cuban government called the change a limited step in the right direction.
The decision does not modify the U.S. embargo, the fraudulent inclusion of Cuba in the list of countries who sponsor terror nor the majority of the coercive actions of maximum pressure by the Trump administration which still affect the Cuban people said Cuba’s Foreign Affairs Miniter Bruno Rodriguez on Twitter.
Gomez believes the policy shift may be too late to stop the attempted mass migration at the border by the island’s young people.
“They tell me this is not, in the long run, going to help them or the Cuban economy or the situation. They still see no future for them on the island, their goal is to get out of there as soon as possible,” Gomez said.
A hostel owner in Cuba says, “Ya muchas promesas se han dado anterior mente y seguimos en las mismas,” too many promises in the past, and we’re still in the same situation.
The United States says it has not been decided whether or not Cuba, Nicaragua, or Venezuela will be invited to the summit of the Americas this coming summer in Los Angeles.
Continue reading...