Cuban Americans urge Biden to resume relations with Cuba

Washington y NY. A coalition of Cuban-American active and retired government officials, business leaders and politicians delivered a letter to the State Department and held a round of meetings with legislators with the purpose of urging Joe Biden’s government to resume the process of normalizing relations with Cuba initiated by the previous government of Barack Obama.

“We write to you as Cuban Americans and concerned American citizens who offered you our time, donated our resources, and voted for you in 2020,” wrote the signatories, who include the former vice president of the Hispanic Caucus of the Democratic National Committee (the Democratic Party’s top entity). Jorge Quintana, University of Washington President Ana Mari Cauce, former Chief Financial Executive and New Jersey Transportation Treasurer Bill Viqueira, and six-time Grammy Award winner Arturo O’ Farrill, among others.

“We are collectively dismayed and disappointed by their indifference to the suffering of Cuban families both in Cuba and here in the United States,” they emphasize.

In the letter delivered today in a meeting with the Coordinator of Cuban Affairs at the State Department as well as with Democratic legislative leaders, the sponsors specifically requested that the Biden administration rescind the designation of Cuba as a state sponsor of terrorism that even senior officials of the The government recognizes, privately, that it is unsustainable, as well as expanding efforts to support the growing private sector on the island.

The letter, coordinated by the Alliance for Cuba Engagement and Respect (ACERE), details the cost of the effects of the US blockade and also the feeling of betrayal by this government that the members of this group feel. “His campaign promise to undo the chaos left by the previous government for Cuban families was one of the main factors why many of us supported him,” says the group that includes more than 200 Cuban Americans who supported Biden in the election. 2020 presidential election along with about 30 Cuban-American-led organizations.

“We are extremely disappointed and horrified by his inaction, lack of courage and sensitivity to undo the drastic and baseless executive actions imposed by his predecessor. They cause serious damage to the people in Cuba as well as in the United States. With the stroke of a pen you could easily reverse these policies and end the pain and suffering.”

The signatories of the letter, which also include Hollywood executive and former member of the finance committee of the Democratic National Committee Andy Spahn, president and CEO of Fuego Enterprises Hugo Cancio, point out that the humanitarian crisis on the island caused due to US sanctions has contributed to the immigration crisis at the US border.

“Tens of thousands of Cubans have lost hope and have left their homeland in search of economic stability,” they write. “Those who remain in Cuba – including the growing private sector that your government claims to support – see their lives severely affected by these sanctions that you could easily reverse.”

The letter is also signed by former National Intelligence Officer for Latin America Fulton Armstrong, Washington-based Cuban-American lawyer José Pertierra, founder of the Center for Democracy in the Americas Sarah Stephens, and progressive businessman and Chief Executive of the Andy Shallal restaurant chain.

They conclude their message to Biden: “We need your courage to implement what a large part of the Cuban-American community, the overwhelming majority of American citizens and the world, believe is the right thing to do.”