Washington, DC – Foreign Policy for America applauds the Biden administration’s recent announcements aimed at improving our relationship with the Cuban people. After many years of diplomatic isolation that included suspending embassy operations in Havana, prohibiting travel to the island, and a return to antiquated Cold War-era policies, FP4A welcomes the news that the administration has moved to pursue policies that benefit people in both countries.
The administration recently announced several admirable initiatives aimed at supporting the Cuban people politically and economically. These reforms include reinstating the Cuban Family Reunification Parole Program, which will serve to further ensure safe and legal migration, while reuniting the sizeable Cuban diaspora community in the U.S. with family who have remained in Cuba. Additionally, the administration announced it will allow authorized travel to Cuba for educational and professional purposes, increase commercial opportunities for Cuban entrepreneurs outside of the state-owned sector, and lift the remittance caps to ensure diaspora communities can financially support their family on the island unencumbered by government restrictions.
This is in addition to previously announced reforms in U.S. policy toward Cuba in recent weeks to address human rights concerns, ensure Cubans’ political and economic rights, and recalibrate U.S. policy to pursue greater support for and assistance to the Cuban people. While the last administration sought to further isolate Cuba, the Biden administration has worked to reinvigorate the U.S.-Cuba Migration Accords to address the massive influx of Cuban migrants arriving in the U.S., ramp up consular activities at Embassy Havana to enable safe and orderly migration, and engage in constructive talks with Cuban officials to advance our mutual interests.
“With these policy shifts, President Biden has not only taken steps to fulfill his campaign promises to reset U.S.-Cuba relations, but also to reassert our commitment to support the Cuban people,” said Foreign Policy for America Executive Director Andrew Albertson. “Measured reforms such as these ensure the Cuban people are afforded greater economic and political freedoms, offered increased commercial opportunities, and have the ability to reunite with exiled family members, while not unduly rewarding the Díaz-Canel regime for its gross human rights abuses that have continued despite worldwide protests in solidarity with Cubans. Foreign Policy for America applauds these actions.”
###
