Cuban Americans for Engagement (CAFE), through its Facebook and Twitter social network accounts, published an open letter this Monday, addressed to the Secretary of State, Michael R. Pompeo, and other officials of the Department of State, in which it expresses deep concern regarding the new measures imposed by the Trump Administration against Cuba, announced on April 17.
In the letter, CAFE emphasizes the need to not allow the activation of Title III of the Helms-Burton Act, starting next May 2; it opposes the limitation of remittances to Cuban families, and it condemns the restrictions of the trips of Americans to Cuba that the United States wants to impose.
With this open letter, the organization also asks that other Cuban-Americans, U.S citizens and people of the world to join with their signature to this claim.
Next, the full text of the letter:
Cuban Americans for Engagement (CAFE)
Open Letter to Secretary of State Michael R. Pompeo and United States State Department Officials regarding the new sanctions on Cuba
April 22, 2019
The Honorable Michael R. Pompeo
The Secretary of State
Dear Mr. Secretary of State,
The undersigned, Cuban-Americans, Cubans, Americans and citizens of the world, express our most radical rejection of the new sanctions imposed by the Trump administration on the people of Cuba, announced last April 17, 2019.
We oppose the limitation on remittances to Cuban families. In addition to exacerbating existing levels of precariousness, such a regulation is one of acute political ineffectiveness even for the purposes of the policy of peaceful transition to democracy enshrined in law by the United States Congress, as it undermines the channels of economic and political empowerment and autonomy available to the nascent entrepreneurial sector of Cuban civil society.
We oppose the activation of Title III of the Helms-Burton Act, suspended by the three previous administrations given its extraterritorial ramifications and illegal nature under international law. If enforced, this law will not only provoke more division within the Cuban-American community but also greater isolation of the United States throughout the international community. We support the position of the World Trade Organization, the United Nations, Canada, Mexico, China and member countries of the European Union, which have called on the current administration to suspend the law and to lift the embargo against Cuba. We urge the United States government to explore alternative compensation options proposed by negotiators from both countries.
We oppose the limitation of travel of Americans to Cuba, which infringes on their freedom to travel as recognized by Article 13 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Furthermore, diplomacy and people-to-people exchanges have proven to be the most powerful tools for deescalating long-term conflicts between both nations. There is no better ambassador of the United States than the American traveler himself.
We urge you to reconsider your position on these topics and to act on the benefit of both countries.