The US State Department announced the expansion of support for the Cubans. Washington will expand the possibility of issuing visas and remove restrictions on family remittances up to $1 thousand per quarter, and donations to Cuban entrepreneurs will also be allowed. The White House announced an increase in the number of embassy staff in Cuba.
The expansion of consular services will allow more Cubans to join families in the United States, notes statement State Department. The authorities also promise to expand the possibilities of electronic payments and access to American Internet services, applications and online trading platforms.
“We will make it easier for families to visit their relatives in Cuba, and for authorized Americans to interact with Cuban residents, attend events, and conduct research… We will also support Cuban families and entrepreneurs by allowing more remittances to the Cuban people in a way that does not led to the enrichment of human rights violators, ”said State Department spokesman Ned Price in a statement.
The Joe Biden administration also told reporters that it would expand its diplomatic presence in Cuba, AP reports. It was reduced under Donald Trump amid the emergence of “Havana syndrome” among embassy employees.
Cuba called the US decisions a step in the right direction, but considers the measures “limited in scope.” “This decision does not lift the blockade, the false listing of countries sponsoring terrorism, or most of Trump’s coercive maximum pressure measures that still affect the Cuban people,” the Cuban Foreign Ministry said in a Twitter statement (blocked in Russia).
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