Radio Cadena Agramonte emisiora de Camagüey
Washington, Feb 13.- Democratic Congressman Jim McGovern, Ranking Member of the House Rules Committee, has introduced a new bill to lift the blockade against Cuba.
The initiative rejects six decades of failed foreign policy towards the island and advocates for the use of diplomacy and dialogue, according to a statement published on the official website of the representative from Massachusetts.
McGovern introduced HR 7521, the U.S.-Cuba Trade Act, in response to recent measures by the Donald Trump administration aimed at imposing a total fuel blockade on the largest of the Antilles, which reinforces the White House's unilateral siege.
HR 7521, the U.S.-Cuba Trade Act, would repeal or amend several laws codified over decades that restrict trade, exchange, telecommunications, and travel with Cuba, it stated.
A similar bill, S. 136, was introduced in the U.S. Senate by Oregon Democrats Ron Wyden and Jeff Merkley.
"The United States has maintained an embargo (blockade) against Cuba for (more than) sixty years," McGovern stressed, warning that politicians in Washington have waited all that time for change, but ultimately have failed.
It's time to discard the old, outdated, and failed policies of the past and try something different, stressed the co-chair of the Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission.
Let's focus on the Cuban people and treat them as human beings who want to live with dignity and freedom, he added. "The Cuban people — not politicians in Washington — must decide on their own leaders and their own future," McGovern emphasized.
The congressman is one of the most active members on Capitol Hill in favor of improving relations between the United States and Cuba. During the tenure of Barack Obama (2009-2017), he participated in the process to help ease the blockade and promote diplomacy and bilateral collaboration.
However, the subsequent regression in relations after Trump came to power in his first term at the White House (2017-2021) was harshly criticized even by Republican legislators.
Trump then reversed some Obama-era policies towards Cuba, and many Congressional Republicans, particularly from agricultural states, stated that the new approach was unfortunate and isolationist.
"The Trump administration claims it wants to reduce migration, but its own hardline stance only incentivizes migration to the United States by worsening living conditions in Cuba," McGovern warned.
"The embargo (blockade) is not only absurdly ineffective, but it is counterproductive and harms precisely (...) the ordinary people and their families who are denied food, medicine, and basic necessities," he added.
Since 2000, McGovern's efforts to promote the normalization of U.S. relations with Cuba have included multiple initiatives.
On February 3, 1962, U.S. President John F. Kennedy affixed his signature, decreeing the blockade against Cuba. Four days after that order was issued, Washington's illegal and inhumane policy was made official. (Text and photo: PL)
