Off the wire
• "The Maze Runner 2" rules China's box office  • Indian leaders condemn terrorist attack in Paris  • Feature: Peking Opera hailed by Liverpool audience  • Urgent: 8 attackers killed in Paris shootings, explosions  • UN chief slams deadly terrorist attacks in Beirut suburb  • Chinese premier strongly condemns Paris terror attacks  • Chinese firm to invest 2.15 bln USD in Mexico's energy sector  • 2nd LD-Writethru: China's central bank welcomes IMF MD Lagarde's statement  • Xi expresses "strongest" condemnation over Paris terror attacks  • Smog to linger in north China, rain to pause in south  
You are here: 　 Home

Havana urges Obama to do more to impove U.S.-Cuba ties

Xinhua, November 14, 2015 Adjust font size:

Cuba's state daily Granma on Friday urged U.S. President Barack Obama to do more to improve bilateral ties, which were restored in July but are still crippled by a more-than-50-year-old U.S. blockade.

Although the power to definitely end the blockade lies with the U.S. Congress, President Obama has broad executive power to substantially modify its implementation and can do much more than he has done thus far,Granma said.

The paper proposed 13 concrete measures for Obama to consider, including authorizing direct export of U.S. products to Cuba, authorizing U.S. companies to invest in Cuba, and authorizing Cuban aircraft and ships to transport passengers, cargo and mail between the two countries.

It also asked Obama to allow Cuba to use the U.S. dollar in international transactions, permit Cuban transactions in the U.S. dollar to be handled within the U.S. banking system, and permit the United States to import highly demanded Cuban goods and services like cigars, rum and biotech products, including those manufactured in other countries using Cuban raw materials.

Cuba estimates the U.S. trade embargo against it, which was imposed by Washington on Feb. 3, 1962, has cost the island nation more than 830 billion dollars.

After a bitter rivalry lasting over half a century, the United States and Cuba restored full diplomatic ties on July 20, 2015, following an agreement to that effect. Endi