Vol. 73/No. 38      October 5, 2009

President Barack Obama had signed a measure two days earlier formally extending for the next year Washington’s nearly 50-year-long economic embargo of Cuba.

The embargo is based on the 1917 Trading with the Enemies Act, which bars commercial relations and travel. This act is currently applied only to Cuba, notes the Cuban daily Granma.

In a memo sent to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner, Obama wrote, “I hereby determine that the continuation for one year of the exercise of those authorities with respect to Cuba is in the national interest of the United States.” Action by Congress is required to end the embargo.

Rodríguez called on Washington to end the embargo now. He pointed out it has cost Cuba $96 billion in economic losses since 1962.

Extension of the anti-Cuba embargo came about two weeks after the Treasury Department formally lifted nearly all U.S. restrictions on travel by family members to Cuba and on the amount of money they can send to the island. Obama had announced these changes in April. Previously, U.S. citizens and residents with family in Cuba were limited to visits once every three years.

The U.S. government also eased regulations prohibiting telecommunications and satellite links between the United States and Cuba and licensing requirements for individuals engaged in agricultural and medical sales, reported the Washington Post.

However, Washington is denying U.S. scientists permission to travel to Cuba to attend the 20th International Congress of Orthopedics and Traumatology, scheduled for September 21-26 in Bayamo, reported Granma September 6. Among those participating are some 400 physicians from about 150 countries.

In another development, Cuban and U.S. officials held talks in Havana September 17 over reestablishing direct mail service, which has been suspended since August 1963. Currently letters sent between the two countries will not arrive unless they pass through a third country first.
 
 
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