US President Joe Biden announced on Monday that he will restore commercial flights to Cuba, which now only reached Havana. Just as he will suspend the limit of 1,000 dollars per quarter on remittances, reversing some of the harshest measures of his predecessor Donald Trump.
Biden will also reinstate a family reunification program that had been suspended for years, the State Department said in a statement.
The spokesman for the US Foreign Ministry, Ned Price, explained in a statement that the measures seek to show support for the people Cuban and give them tools to achieve a “free life” outside the “oppression” of the government of their country, and to help them seek better economic opportunities.
Biden government on the situation in Cuba
Price reiterated his appeal to the Cuban Executive to release “immediately” the “political prisoners” and respect the fundamental rights of its people.
Specifically, the US announced on Monday that it will restore both commercial flights and charter flights and that it will allow some types that Trump had restricted, such as those for educational or professional purposes.
It will also stop the trips of groups of Americans destined to make contacts with the Cuban people, known in English as “people to people travel”. But individual visits of this kind will remain prohibited.
Flights to Cuba
Until now, US airlines could only fly to Havana, leaving Cuban-Americans with few options to visit relatives in other parts of the island.
In 2019, the Trump administration banned commercial flights from its territory to all cities in Cuba with the exception of Havana. While in August 2020, it went further by suspending private charter flights to all airports on the island, including the capital.
Those charter flights were used by many Cuban-Americans to travel to the island from Miami (Florida, USA).
Support for Cuban entrepreneurs
Likewise, the State Department announced this Monday that it will increase its support for Cuban entrepreneurs with authorizations to access electronic commerce platforms. Among other actions.
The policy change comes after an internal review within the Biden Administration that has taken months.
During his campaign for the 2020 elections, Biden promised to return to the thaw with Cuba started by Barack Obama (2009-2017) and reverse many of the sanctions imposed by Trump.
However, the debate within the Biden government seemed to have come to a standstill after the unprecedented anti-government demonstrations on July 11 in Cuba. The same that caused the imposition of sanctions by the US as punishment for the imprisonment of some of its leaders and participants.
After these frictions, representatives of the United States and Cuba met in April in Washington to discuss migration issues. In the first high-level dialogue between the two countries since Biden’s arrival at the White House.