On the eve of December 17 - the seventh anniversary of the restoration of U.S.-Cuba relations - more than half of House Democrats demanded the restoration of the path to normalization and the reversal of Trump's policies and sanctions.
More than a hundred members of Congress call on Biden to address humanitarian needs and reestablish constructive dialogue with Cuba.
Full letter from members of Congress to Biden
Dear President Biden:
We are writing to ask you to prioritize the welfare of the Cuban people, who are experiencing the worst economic and humanitarian crisis in recent history. The current humanitarian situation in Cuba is increasingly dire, with shortages of food and goods and reduced access to medical supplies in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic.
We urge you to take immediate humanitarian action, as the United Nations has repeatedly urged, to suspend U.S. regulations that prevent food, medicine and other humanitarian assistance from reaching the Cuban people.
We also support a more comprehensive change to deepen engagement with Cuba and move toward normalization of U.S.-Cuba relations.
We urge your administration to eliminate the specific licenses required to ship medical supplies, such as test kits and respiratory devices, to Cuba. We also ask that the administration lift all restrictions on banking and financial transactions related to humanitarian aid and suspend end-use verification.
While the embargo permits the shipment of humanitarian aid, in practice, licensing requirements, end-use verification, restrictions on the banking sector, and fear of unknowingly violating U.S. laws severely complicate the shipment of humanitarian aid to Cuba, including from other countries, such as the United States.
We ask you to remove all restrictions on family remittances, allowing Cuban Americans to help their families and improve their standard of living, and restrictions on non-family remittances (donations), allowing non-profit organizations and religious groups to provide humanitarian assistance and start-up capital for Cuban entrepreneurs and civil society.
We continue to await action based on the recommendations of the Remittance Working Group established in the wake of the July 11 protests, charged with expediting a review within 30 days of how to send remittances directly to the Cuban people.
Despite concerns that the Cuban government derives revenue from remittances, the government captures less revenue from remittances than in the past due to changes initiated in July 2020 and much of the government's revenue from remittances is channeled to imports of food, fuel and essential goods for Cubans who do not have family abroad, many of them in marginalized communities.
In addition, the U.S. government does not restrict remittances to most countries targeted by U.S. sanctions. For example, your administration restarted the flow of remittances through Western Union to Afghanistan, and as of last week allows personal and family remittances through financial institutions.
We also urge you to repeal the Trump Administration's travel restrictions to Cuba, as they make it difficult for Cuban Americans to visit and meet with family members on the island, particularly for those with families outside of Havana. These restrictions limit dialogue and mutually beneficial exchange between the U.S. and Cuban people.
Travel restrictions have also hurt small private businesses, which have been unable to access needed goods and products and have struggled since tourism began to slow after such restrictions were implemented. Allowing travel to Cuba would increase the flow of needed humanitarian supplies to the island and the amount and distribution of money and goods sent directly into the hands of Cubans.
Cuba was removed from the State Sponsors of Terrorism list in 2015 after a thorough review by State Department experts and the intelligence community. The Trump Administration cited no new facts to justify its decision to reinstate Cuba during the final days of its term. Therefore, we ask that you recommend that the State Department conduct a new review and remove Cuba from the list.
This designation places another obstacle in the way of improved relations and creates further obstacles to the purchase or receipt of humanitarian goods.
In addition to these immediate steps, we believe that a policy of engagement with Cuba serves the interests of the United States and the Cuban people. It should lead to a broader effort to deepen engagement and normalization, including the resumption of diplomatic engagement at senior levels, as well as through the staffing of each country's respective embassies.
This act will not only be.