Feature: Cubans urgently wait for end of U.S. embargo

The Cubans are highly hopeful of a possible lifting of economic blockade decreed by Washington over half a century ago after the restoration of diplomatic relations with the United States.

"It would be wonderful. It would be a joy for us if the blockade is removed," Madelaine Cedeno, a young woman, said in a street of central Havana, hoping for the best result by the end of a long negotiation process initiated by the two governments last December.

Cedeno does not expect these negotiations to bring changes in her personal life, but she considered that the Cuban society can benefit greatly with the end of the economic siege, decreed by the United States on Feb. 3, 1962.

"Perhaps there will be an improvement in the health sector, because now when important medicines are needed, they must be purchased in a distant country because the United States does not sell them to Cuba," said Cedeno, an employee in a state-run company.

"The blockade affects us here in many aspects ... transportation, food. It is criminal what these people have done to us," said Humberto Montalvo, a 50-year-old audio technician.

Montalvo believed the end of sanctions "would bring more trade and tourism in Cuba, improving the local economy."

Many Cubans are hoping for a future improvement in the economy by establishing business with U.S. companies, which currently is prohibited by the U.S. legislation.

"Trade would benefit largely the Cuban people because being two neighboring countries, the goods would reach us faster," added retiree Lazaro Garcia.

"It's not the same to bring the goods from Europe as from the United States, which is much closer," he said.

Student Rodolfo Soto said the blockade has affected all Cubans because "what costs a penny to any country, it costs us 20 and then, logically, it affects greatly the development of the island."

The end of hostilities could bring in a handsome number of American tourists, something still prohibited by the U.S. laws. Soto said that it would be an important source of hard currency, improving dramatically the national economy.

Experts say the island can receive from 3 million to 3.5 million American tourists each year, and it is necessary to expand the island's hotel infrastructure, something that is under plan by the Ministry of Tourism (Mintur).

Efforts are being made to provide 85,500 hotel rooms up to international standards by 2020, Cuban Minister of Tourism Manuel Marrero said last September.

Havana and Washington announced on Wednesday the restoration of diplomatic ties, which was cut off in January 1961. Both sides agreed that this is just the beginning of a long way. Endi