Changes to U.S. sanctions list merely "routine" updating: Cuba

Recent changes to a U.S. blacklist of Cuban companies and individuals are merely "routine" updating, and represent no major changes in policy toward Cuba, according to state daily Granma.

In an op-ed piece published Wednesday, Granma said the announced changes were trivial, and lamented that the U.S.-led trade embargo against the Caribbean nation still stands, despite the binational effort underway to normalize ties.

"International media have reported, with exaggerated fanfare, what is a routine review process by the (U.S.) Treasury Department of the so-called 'Specially Designated Nationals' list, which is usually done to exclude companies that have closed or individuals who have died," the daily said.

"What the...media did not say is that the blockade against Cuba remains intact, continues to affect more than 11 million Cubans and thousands of our country's companies and institutions, and continues to punish...third countries" that do business with Cuba, the editorial said.

Granma highlighted the most recent example of the embargo's chilling effect on Cuba's economic and financial ties with other countries: a crippling 1.71 billion U.S.-dollar fine against German bank Commerzbank, for violating sanctions against Cuba, as well as Iran, Sudan and Myanmar. The fine is the second-biggest imposed by the United States, Granma added.

On Tuesday, the U.S. Treasury Department announced it was pulling some 45 Cuban companies and six individuals from the blacklist, which bars U.S. companies and individuals from doing business with those listed, and freezes any assets held in the United States.

Among those eliminated were companies that no longer existed, ships that had sunk, and four people who were no longer living, including two military officers who were executed for drug trafficking.

The United States and Cuba have held three rounds of talks on restoring diplomatic ties severed by Washington in January 1961, and reopening embassies.

Both sides have called the talks "productive," but no major breakthroughs have been made. Havana has said the embargo is a main stumbling block to normalizing ties. Endi