Cuba: U.S. measures to ease embargo "limited"
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The latest U.S. policies on Cuba were "positive but very limited," as the economic, financial and trade blockade against the island still remained, the Cuban Foreign Ministry said Monday.
"Though these measures are positive, they remain well below our just demands, have a very limited scope and do not change the policy against Cuba," the ministry said.
On Jan. 14, U.S. President Barack Obama authorized travel to Cuba by U.S. citizens for academic, educational, cultural and religious purposes.
He also authorized remittances in limited amounts from U.S. citizens to Cuba, and decreed that U.S. international airports may operate direct charter flights to Cuba under certain conditions.
Cuba said the new measures benefited only certain categories of U.S. citizens and did not restore the right of U.S. citizens to travel to Cuba.
"These measures confirm that there is no will to change the policy of blockade and destabilization against Cuba," the ministry said, adding that "if there were a real interest in expanding and easing contacts between our peoples, the United States should lift the blockade and delete the prohibition that makes Cuba the only country that cannot be visited by U.S. citizens."
According to the Cuban ministry, the U.S. government "made it clear that the embargo will remain intact and they intend to use new measures to strengthen the instruments of subversion and interference in Cuba's internal affairs."
Shortly after taking office, President Obama began a tentative rapprochement with Cuba, a country that the United States has had no diplomatic relations with for half a century.
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