The speech will be broadcast widely and has not been met with any resistance from Cuban officials, according to Deputy National Security Adviser Ben Rhodes.
Advertisement
Yet it was unclear whether Cuba would respond by easing its own barriers on U.S.travel and commerce, including a requirement that US companies operating in Cuba hire workers through a state-run agency, a key USA sticking point.
Any American can now travel to Cuba under 12 categories of legally permissible purposes, which include professional, religious and journalistic activities.
The White House loosened measures of longtime sanctions against Cuba, shortly before President Obama heads to Cuba.
Cuba announced that the first direct mail in more than fifty years would fly from the U.S.to Cuba on Wednesday.
The doors widen for Americans looking to travel to Cuba.
President Barack Obama has been using his executive powers to chip away at the half-century-old trade embargo, imposed on the communist-ruled nation in 1960, but can not lift it without approval from Congress that is unlikely under current Republican leadership.
In reference to the progress these new changes will establish to open up travel to Cuba, White House spokesman John Earnst said in a statement: “These changes, coupled with the arrangement recently announced by the Departments of State and Transportation allowing up to 110 nonstop flights daily between the United States and Cuba, will significantly increase the ability of USA citizens to travel to Cuba to directly engage with the Cuban people”.
Beruff then noted that his family “fought alongside thousands of Cubans to overthrow Batista and then Castro because they were a threat to the basic principles of democracy and human rights”.
“Without question, for Cuba, export will be the engine of future economic growth”.
Meanwhile hundreds of workers have been scrambling for days to touch up building facades, patch potholes and spiff up Havana’s monuments ahead of Mr Obama’s visit. “I think he should stay there”.
At a church there, Obama will meet with Cardinal Jaime Ortega, who helped facilitate the months-long, secret negotiations that led to the US and Cuba agreeing to re-establish diplomatic relations.
“Specifically this new route from Chicago to Havana would provide us with far better and more competitive access to the rich cultural resources of Cuba”, wrote Daniel J. Schmidt, president and CEO of WTTW and WFMT, in a letter to Secretary Foxx. Castro was to host the president for a state dinner at the palace on Monday evening.
US banks will be allowed to process Cuban transactions that pass through the USA financial system. That means Cuban athletes, artists, performers and others who obtain the necessary visas will be allowed to come to the United States and earn salaries and stipends above their basic living expenses.
Advertisement
Be Civil – It’s OK to have a difference in opinion but there’s no need to be a jerk.
