Cuba Government Responds To Biden-Harris Administration Newest Initiatives Towards Re-Emerging Private Sector.

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Miguel Díaz-Canel Bermúdez, President of the Republic of Cuba (2019- ) @DiazCanelB
29 May 2024

  • “The measures announced by the United States government with respect to #Cuba are limited, restrictive and do not touch the fundamental body of the #Blockade against our country, nor the other sanctions of its maximum pressure policy.  They do not eliminate or change the coercive measures that most affect the Cuban economy and public services, thereby severely damaging the well-being of our entire population today.  The intention to direct them only to a segment of our people shows their historical intention to fracture unity among Cubans. #CubaEsUnaSola  The concern for the development of the non-state sector of our economy is not genuine. It responds to a subversive design, outlined in known strategies, which contemplates the manipulation and employment of this sector as a potential agent of change in the country.  As long as the intensified #Blockade remains in force, criminally affecting the entire Cuban people, the United States will not be able to free itself from the global condemnation of this genocide without bombs that seeks to destroy the admirable resistance of #Cuba.  From the Revolutionary Government we will continue to promote the increasing integration of all our economic actors, which today are, together, a cornerstone to develop and advance towards the well-being of all our people.”

Statement of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Cuba (MINREX)

“On May 28, the United States Government finally announced a group of measures to put into effect its announcements of May 16, 2022.  The objective of this step, according to the text published by the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC), is to favor the private sector in Cuba.

The measures are limited and do not touch the fundamental body of the blockade against Cuba or the additional sanctions that make up the maximum pressure policy. Once again, the U.S. government's decision rests on its own distorted vision of Cuban reality, by attempting to artificially separate the private sector from the public sector, when both are part of the Cuban business system and society as a whole.

With this announcement, the United States government intends to target only a segment of our population. The coercive measures that most affect the Cuban economy and public services today and that severely damage the well-being of our entire population are not eliminated or modified.

If the announced measures come to fruition, the United States seeks to put in an advantageous situation the private sector that has been legally established and has grown under the measures taken in a sovereign act by the government of Cuba in consultation with the Cuban people. The same has happened with Internet access established and expanded by Cuba despite the obstacles of the blockade and restrictions to prevent free access to hundreds of tools and websites.

The Government of the United States has been explicit in its intention to use this sector for political purposes against the Revolution, based on its objectives of regime change.

Although it is a capricious selectivity, both the public and private sectors will continue to suffer the consequences of the blockade and the absurd inclusion of Cuba on the list of States that supposedly sponsor terrorism.

The coercive measures that make up the economic blockade will remain in force with cruel effects on the entire Cuban population.

It is evident that the U.S. ratifies its willingness to punish the Cuban state sector, knowing that it provides essential services such as education, health, culture, sports and others to all Cubans, including the private sector; and that is the guarantee of social justice and equity among citizens.  For this reason, recent measures were adopted by the U.S. government to pursue Cuba's international medical cooperation and documents have been published that reveal that the commitment to deprive us of income and destabilize the country for political purposes of domination continues.

The Cuban government will study these measures and, if they do not violate national legislation and mean an opening that benefits the Cuban population, even if only a segment, it will not hinder their application.”

  • “Once again, the U.S. government tries to tailor its actions not to the reality of Cuba but to a fiction it has constructed about Cuban reality…. These are measures, announced two years ago by President Biden, do not touch the body of the economic, commercial and financial blockade imposed by his government, nor do they modify the extreme regulations that are applied against Cuba.   They demonstrate that once again the U.S. government tries to adapt their actions, not to the reality of the nation, but to a fiction that is built on this reality, and separates the private sector… Cuba is studying them… and the government's decision is firm and, if they do not violate national legislation and truly represent an opportunity or an opening for our population, and the population benefits, even if it's for a specific segment of our population, the Cuban government is not going to put obstacles in the way of the application of these measures.  Johana Tablada, Deputy Director General for the United States at MINREX