Through a letter, the employers affirm that the measures significantly harm their activities and their families.
Hundreds of Cuban businessmen requested, in a letter to US President Joe Biden published this Monday, the lifting of economic sanctions against the communist island, which “significantly harm” their activities and their families.
“Through our businesses, we are working to build economic well-being for our families, so that Cuban entrepreneurs do not feel the need to emigrate to have a rewarding job and economic prosperity,” they explain in the letter. 247 managers of private companies and cooperatives.
“However, the current US policy towards Cuba greatly affects our daily business operations and slows our ability to prosper,” they added, lamenting that Biden maintains, despite his campaign promises, the 243 sanctions imposed by his predecessor Donald Trump, who have reinforced the embargo in force since 1962.
During his campaign, Biden had pointed out the need for a “new policy towards Cuba,” lifting restrictions on tourist travel to the island, and on remittance transfers. But so far they have not modified any of these measures.
“We urge you to take the following immediate actions: 1) restore a path for remittances; 2) open travel for those subject to US jurisdiction; 3) reopen the US embassy in Havana; and 4) remove Cuba from its list of countries that sponsor terrorism ”, according to the letter sent to Biden.
The Cuban private sector experienced a short-lived boom during the rapprochement between the United States and Cuba, between 2014 and 2016, during the Barack Obama administration.
“We dream of going back to those days, when rapprochement was the official policy of the United States, producing an economic boom that benefited us all,” the businessmen say in their letter.
Although the Cuban economy is still 85% state-owned, there are more than 600,000 private workers, mainly in the service sector (restaurants, taxis, repairs, etc.), which were recently authorized to create small and medium-sized businesses.
But the coronavirus pandemic, which plunged Cuba into its worst economic crisis since 1993, forced more than 250,000 private workers to suspend their activities. (I)
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