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Cuban media highlights Obama' s new measures to loosen restrictions

Xinhua, October 15, 2016 Adjust font size:

Various Cuban media outlets on Friday highlighted the new set of measures issued by U.S. President Barack Obama to further ease trade, travel and financial restrictions on the island as he seeks to make his policy change toward the Caribbean nation irreversible before leaving office in January.

Official daily Granma reported on the latest changes by the Obama administration, which constitute the fourth set of measures issued by the White House to relax the economic embargo on the island since both governments began normalizing relations in December 2014.

Among the changes, Cuban pharmaceutical companies can now apply for Food and Drug Administration approval and sell their own products manufactured in the island on American soil.

Furthermore, American visitors to the island can now take back rum and cigars with no limit. This will come as a great economic boon to Cuba, which nets great revenues from abroad on these products.

The Cuban government had long requested Washington open up the U.S. market for its pharmaceutical products and traditional exports.

This new measure will allow for Cuban vaccines against cancer and other drugs against diabetes to be commercialized in the United States in the near future.

Official website Cubadebate highlighted that U.S firms can also now provide services related to infrastructure in Cuba.

Also, it displayed the Treasury Department changes regarding the permission for U.S. companies to provide safety-related services for commercial aircrafts in Cuba, where U.S. airlines have begun regular commercial flights.

Another crucial change is that Washington lifted the prohibition on foreign vessels entering a U.S. port for loading or unloading freight for 180 days after docking at a Cuban port for trade purposes.

These measures are all contained in Obama's latest executive order on Cuba, which sidesteps the Republican-controlled Congress and further relaxes the economic and trade blockade imposed on Havana for over 50 years.

Congress has so far resisted Obama's call to lift Washington's economic embargo on Cuba.

In an article published Friday on the White House's website, Samantha Power, Obama's national security advisor, wrote that "this directive outlines the future we'd like to see - a future of greater engagement, greater cooperation, and greater opportunity for Americans and for Cubans." Enditem