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CUB | May 19, 2022

Cuba brands US rollback of curbs as light on detail, heavy on hostility

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Flags of U.S. and Cuba hang outside a hotel in Havana, Cuba, April 6, 2022. (Photo: REUTERS/Stringer)

HAVANA (Reuters)

Cuba´s vice foreign minister denounced the Biden administration’s partial rollback of Trump-era restrictions on remittances and travel to the island, calling the United States policy toward the island one of continued “hostility” and “economic blockade.”

The U.S. measures, announced on Monday (May 16), mark the most significant changes in U.S. policy toward Cuba since President Joe Biden took office in January 2021. His administration said it would open the door to increased travel to the island, do away with a Trump-era cap on remittances and promises to further boost visa processing.

The measures, however, stop well short of the historic rapprochement under former President Barack Obama.

Cuban Vice Foreign Minister Carlos Fernandez de Cossio, in a television program on state-run media on Tuesday, called the announcement “an information sheet sparse in detail, although with a heavy load of hostile language toward Cuba and a dose of demagoguery.”

Statement by Carlos Fernández de Cossío, General Director for U.S. Affairs  on U.S. State Department's false accusations | CUBADIPLOMATICA
Cuban Vice Foreign Minister Carlos Fernandez de Cossio

He warned against too much optimism until the fine print of the regulations is released, a process he said could take “days or months.”

The United States said on Monday that the rule changes would be implemented “in short order.”

Many Cubans on the island found reason to celebrate this week, as hopes of reuniting with family in the United States and the potential for even a minor uptick in its near-collapsed economy provided some room for optimism.

Cuba, a Caribbean island 90 miles from the United States, is suffering its worse economic crisis in decades, ravaged by Trump-era sanctions, two years of coronavirus and an ailing tourism industry that is struggling to recover.

A Coast Guard Air Station Miami HC-144 Ocean Sentry law enforcement air crew alerted Coast Guard Sector Key West watchstanders of a rustic vessel about 10 miles south of Key West, Florida, May 7, 2022. The people were repatriated May 13, 2022. (Photo courtesy of US Coast Guard)

Tens of thousands of Cubans have left the island in recent months for the United States, an exodus on par with the 1980 Mariel boatlift.

Cossio expressed skepticism that the announced changes would do much to improve the country´s lot.

“The policy of the United States towards Cuba continues to be a policy of hostility and economic blockade…to isolate Cuba, and to {discredit} it,” he said.

The United States said the policy shift announced Monday “will continue to focus on empowering the Cuban people to help them create a future free from repression and economic suffering.”

RELATED: Cubans cheer Biden move to ease restrictions, US reaction muted

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