Joe Biden has decided to extend Washington’s trade restrictions against the Cuban regime for a year a regular procedure followed by each US Administration to reactivate the policy of sanctions against Havana, and which will now remain in force until September 14, 2024, when it must be renewed .
In a statement released by the White House press office, the president Biden has indicated that he approves of sanctions under the Trading with the Enemy Act which is scheduled to expire on September 14, 2023.
“I determined it The continued use of these authorities in relation to Cuba for another year is in the national interest of the United States,” he said.
The extension gives the president more power to enforce embargoes and authorize certain operations, based on a 1917 law that gave the United States the power to restrict trade with countries deemed hostile.
Under this law, the oldest of its kind, the Cuban Asset Control Regulations were adopted in 1963. In the past, the United States has applied this law against China, North Korea and Vietnam.
Although Biden came to power promising to continue the policy of rapprochement with Havana of former President Barack Obama, where he was vice president, The violent suppression of protests on July 11, 2021 by the island’s regime caused his Administration to reverse some of the measures of his predecessor Donald Trump.
During his term of office, the current Democratic president re-established the functions of the US Embassy in Havana; maintains new contacts with the Government of the Island, especially of a migratory nature; commercial airline flights and remittances were normalized, and many export and business licenses were approved for businessmen who wanted to do business with Cuba.
However, Havana was not removed from the list of countries that promote terrorism and criticized the repression of activists, opponents, religious and independent civil society in general the Cuban regime.
Authorities in Havana blame the embargo for the shortages suffered by Cubans. However, Cuba’s purchases of the United States have increased since 2020 and that country is now the sixth in the world with the highest number of exports of the Island revealed the Statistical Yearbook of Cuba for the year 2022, with figures made public by the state National Office of Statistics and Information (ONEI).
According to that document, Last year, the northern neighbor exported products worth $391,296,000 to the Island, the highest figure in six years.
This increase, despite the embargo and the continuous complaints of Bruno RodrÃguez, Miguel DÃaz-Canel and other officials about the “damaging effects” of Washington’s sanctions against Havana, It shows how dependent Cuba is today on its northern neighbor.
In such figures, the US is placed on top of countries in the Latin American region that have more political ties to Havana, such as Brazil (377,815,000 dollars in exports in 2022), Argentina (347,514,000 dollars) and Mexico (347,801,000 ).
Cuba’s main exporter is Venezuela (2,013,489 exports in 2022; although ONEI did not clarify if that figure includes oil shipments). They are followed by China (1,146,502); Spain (1,013,643); Russia (843,906,000) and the Netherlands (510,827,000).
Since the beginning of US sales to Cuba, in December 2001, the total amount is 7,063,985,829 dollars. according to figures from the Cuba-US Economic and Trade Council.
All exports are allowed, despite the embargo, under the Trade Sanctions Reform and Export Enhancement Act (TSREEA) of 2000, passed by the George W. Bush Administration, to which Havana has resorted without stopping since the end of 2001.
Neither the authorities nor the official press talked about this commercial volume. Instead, they say that the “greed of the northern neighbor” seeks to drown Cubans in suffering.
