The Alliance for Commitment and Respect of Cuba (ACERE), made up of figures related to the Cuban regime, has sent a letter to the president of the United States, Joe Biden, in which he demands that he take a “broader path of normalization” of the United States-Cuba relations and demolish sanctions that weigh on Havana.
ACERE says “proudly” in a press release that more than 200 Cuban-American supporters of President Biden and 30 Cuban-American-led organizations, along with hundreds of other concerned American citizens and civil society organizations, have written a letter to President Biden asking him to fulfill his 2020 campaign promises on Cuba policy.
The platform initiative, with the signature of supporters of the regime such as businessman Hugo Cancio, denounces “the humanitarian impacts of the Administration’s foreign policy” on the Island.
The signatories of the letter refer to “the serious economic crisis that has fueled the largest migratory wave in the history of Cuba“, they ask Biden to “help alleviate the situation on the Island by issuing regulations to support the growth of Cuba’s private sector“and the annulment of what they qualify as “unfounded designation” of the Cuban regime as state sponsor of terrorism;
The inclusion of the Cuban regime in that list was one of the last decisions made by the Donald Trump Administration. (2017-2021) before leaving power.
The US then justified the measure by referring to the presence on the island of members of the Colombian ELN guerrilla, who traveled to Havana to begin peace negotiations with the Government of Colombia. During that period of time, the armed group claimed responsibility for a car bomb attack against the Colombian Police Cadet School, which left 22 dead and 87 injured.
Last week the Undersecretary of State for the Western Hemisphere, Brian A. Nicholsruled out the negotiation of the Cuban regime’s removal from the list of state sponsors of terrorism.
The signatories of the letter to Biden also call for “funding and staffing the US embassy in Havana to resume processing of non-immigrant visas; and a greater relaxation of travel restrictions to facilitate exchanges between people and family reunification“.
In the letter too “They urge President Biden to return to a broader path of normalization of relations between the United States and Cuba“.
Among the signatories are the former vice president of the Hispanic Caucus of the Democratic National Committee, Jorge Quintana; the chancellor of the University of Washington, Ana Mari Cauce; the executive director of Puentes Cubanos, Silvia Wilhelm; the founder of the Center for Democracy in the Americas, Sarah Stephens; the co-founder of Americans for Humanitarian Trade with Cuba, Jorge Ignacio Fernández; the musician and composer, Arturo O’Farrill; among others.
The letter was delivered this Monday at the State Department during a meeting in which Carlos Lazo, leader of the pro-Castro movement Puente de Amor, was present.
“We express our disappointment and disgust with the Biden Administration’s policies of economic asphyxiation towards the people of Cuba,” said Lazo, quoted by the official Prensa Latina.
“The meeting, which lasted nearly two hours, took place in an atmosphere of respect and different issues were addressed. issues related to policy towards Cuba and the way in which it punishes and suffocates the Cuban people,” he added.
The platform that promotes the initiative is the same one that a year ago collected requests from Cuban entrepreneurs to Biden to prosper in their businesses without first demanding that the regime end the obstacles and control it exercises over private activity.
