"An Island on a Continent"

Washington, Aug 27^th (Prensa Latina) Democratic Congresswoman Barbara Lee described the US blockade against Cuba as obsolete and harmful and said she will work to achieve a more intelligent and humane policy towards the Caribbean country.

A member of the House of Representatives for California since 1998, Lee recalled that she has deployed her efforts in the United States policy towards the Caribbean nation for four decades, and that she is committed to lifting the “failed embargo (blockade) on Cuba.”

“The United States must support the efforts of the Cuban people to build a peaceful and prosperous society that can satisfy the hopes and needs of the Cuban people. And we see the Cuban people organizing to achieve this,” stressed the president of the Congressional Black Caucus (2009–2011) in a statement.

“But US policy is still based on the idea that punishing Cubans is somehow helping them,” she warned, recalling that during the Barack Obama administration (2009-2017) some important measures were adopted “to rethink our strategy towards Cuba,” she said.

However, the Donald Trump administration (2017-2021) “not only undid those measures, but expanded the embargo, accusing Cuba of being a state sponsor of terrorism,” Lee added, expressing her gratitude for participating in an event on Washington’s policy towards the Caribbean nation.

She commented that President Joe Biden has adopted “a series of small, important and positive measures.” “We have begun to talk again with the Cuban government on issues of mutual interest, such as migration and law enforcement. We have increased our diplomatic and consular presence, and we have taken steps to encourage travel and trade.”

For the legislator, “these steps remain only symbolic changes in a policy that continues to isolate and punish the people of Cuba. After six decades of failure, it is time for the United States to try something different,” because in the end it is “the Cuban people who are paying the price.”

Representative Lee stressed that she will work “to create a smarter and more humane U.S. policy toward Cuba.”

The lifting of the economic, commercial, and financial blockade on Cuba is a demand that has not yet been heard by the White House governments, both Democrats and Republicans.

Added to this policy of suffocation in 2021 was the re-inclusion of Cuba on the arbitrary list of State Sponsors of Terrorism (SSOT), a decision taken by then-Republican President Donald Trump days before the end of his term.

Despite promising to make changes in Cuba policy, the current Democratic president, Joe Biden, about five months away from ending his term in the Oval Office not only continues to follow the line of reinforced blockade but also maintains the designation of SSOT.