January
05. The U.S. government again included Cuba, along with countries such as Russia, China, and Nicaragua, on its blacklist on religious freedom. Other nations such as Burma, North Korea, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Iran, Tajikistan, and Vietnam appear on the list.
05. Foreign Minister Bruno Rodríguez rejected the inclusion of Cuba on United States “unilateral” lists hours after the island was again placed by Washington among the countries that, in its opinion, violate religious freedom.
In the opinion of the foreign minister, this decision by the United States “responds to (the) need to justify its inhuman measures of siege and economic warfare against (the) Cuban people.”
05. The Cornell University Symphonic Wind Band, from the United States, under the direction of James Spinazzola, performed in the Che Guevara Hall of Casa de las Américas. The performance of the U.S. ensemble is part of a ten-day tour of Cuba with community presentations.
18. The U.S. government confirmed that it does not plan for now to allow Cuban micro, small and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) access to the U.S. banking system. Eric Jacobstein Deputy Assistant Secretary in the Bureau of Western Hemisphere Affairs of the State Department, said during a hearing in Congress that at the moment he did not have information about specific regulatory changes.
This Thursday, the federal official was questioned about rumors that the Biden administration would be considering allowing Cuban entrepreneurs to open accounts in U.S. banks. However, Jacobstein assured during his speech that the White House is committed to “supporting the Cuban people” and facilitating “the growth of the private sector” on the island, which, he said, “sees the United States as a source of inspiration,” said an EFE report.
28. Cuba received 28 irregular migrants returned by the United States, bringing the total number of Cubans deported by sea to 91 so far in 2024. This new group, made up of 23 men and 3 women, tried to reach the United States illegally and was intercepted at sea by the Coast Guard, detailed a note from the Ministry of the Interior (MININT).
29. Between January 29 and 31, Sara Minkara, U.S. Department of State Special Advisor on International Disability Rights. (SAIDR), visited Havana, the United States Embassy reported.
Minkara met with representatives of the Cuban government, independent entrepreneurs, former students of programs sponsored by the Embassy, and students of educational institutions in Havana, according to a press release.
February
01. The U.S. writer Alice Walker received the Haydée Santamaría medal in Havana, during an event held at Casa de las Américas. The award was given to her in recognition of her support and deepening of U.S. ties with Cuba.
07. Cuban and U.S. authorities held talks in Washington on security and law enforcement. The Cuban representatives provided their U.S. counterparts with information on people “identified for their links to terrorism.”
The meeting was the sixth on this topic since 2015 intending to promote “cooperation to combat terrorism, illegal trafficking of migrants and immigration fraud, drug trafficking, among other scourges that threaten the security of the two countries,” according to the Cuban Foreign Ministry. According to a note published by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MINREX), the exchange “took place in a climate of respect and professionalism.”
10. An alliance of U.S. and Cuban-American groups and activists published an open letter to President Joe Biden encouraging him to change the course of his policy towards Cuba.
United Voice for Change: A Call to Review U.S.-Cuba Policy is the title of the appeal sponsored by ACERE.
22. Representatives of the U.S. agricultural sector expressed their “optimism” about future collaboration with Cuba but stressed that the exchange must be on both sides.
“There may be new opportunities and we are optimistic about the possibility of future cooperation with Cuba,” Ted A. MCKinney, president of the National Association of State Departments of Agriculture (NASDA), told the press.
23. Scientists and researchers from Cuba and the United States discussed in Havana’s preparation for pandemic situations, cancer, and other health issues, reported the Ministry of Public Health (MINSAP). The exchanges occurred within the 2nd Joint Scientific Meeting Cuba-United States held last week.
24. During the visit to Cuba, U.S. Deputy Assistant Secretary for Public Diplomacy Kerri S. Hannan met with private businesspeople and representatives of civil society, as well as with government officials.
According to a press release from the U.S. Embassy, Hannan exchanged with Cuban entrepreneurs “to learn about the challenges they face and to demonstrate the continued support of the United States to the Cuban people and the Cuban private sector.”
In addition, she “learned firsthand how they provide food, supplies, employment and economic opportunities to the Cuban people,” and “explored with them how the U.S. government can strengthen the independent Cuban private sector with exchanges and other aid.”
March
01. Ilham Omar, a U.S. House of Representatives member, joined the demands for a change in the White House policy towards Cuba.
Omar expressed her frustration at the continuity of policies strengthened by the Trump administration and called on President Biden to make a substantial change. “For 65 long years the Cuban people have suffered from the U.S. embargo,” said the representative from Minnesota.
02. The Cuban Consular Office in the United States announced that it will resume in-person services starting Monday, March 4, according to a statement from the Cuban Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MINREX).
08. A group of Republican congresspeople asked President Biden to keep Cuba on the list of state sponsors of terrorism. The legislators made this request amid the controversy over the trip two congresspeople from the progressive wing of the Democratic Party made to Cuba at the end of February.
Republicans María Elvira Salazar, Nicole Malliotakis, Carlos Giménez, and Mario Díaz-Balart, all of Cuban origin, gave a press conference in front of Congress to make public their request to Biden and to attack the socialist system that, in their opinion, “has destroyed Cuba.”
These legislators are trying to promote the so-called Force Acts, which would prevent the United States from normalizing relations with Cuba until “freedom and democracy are restored” on the island. In addition, it would prohibit the State Department from removing Cuba from the list of state sponsors of terrorism if those conditions are not met.
09. A U.S. federal court dismissed a lawsuit to stop the humanitarian parole program that allows migrants from Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua, and Venezuela to request emergency entry into the country.
According to the decision of federal judge Drew B. Tipton, the government of Democrat Joe Biden will be able to continue implementing this initiative, which had been opposed by several states in the union led by Texas.
18. The U.S. government expressed its support for the protesters in Cuba while denying being behind this Sunday’s protests in different localities.
“The United States supports the Cuban people exercising their right to assemble peacefully,” said Assistant Secretary of State for Western Hemisphere Affairs Brian Nichols on social media.
Nichols also said that “the Cuban government will not be able to meet the needs of its people until it adopts democracy and the rule of law and respects the rights of Cuban citizens.”
18. The Cuban Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MINREX) summoned United States Chargé d’Affaires Benjamin Ziff regarding the U.S. statements following the protests that took place on Sunday in several towns on the island.
Ziff was summoned by Deputy Minister Carlos Fernández de Cossío, who “formally conveyed to him the firm rejection of the interventionist conduct and the slanderous messages of the U.S. government and its embassy in Cuba” in light of these events, according to a statement from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
23. The U.S. House of Representatives, dominated by Republicans, approved a bill containing specific restrictions on transferring government funds to promote entrepreneurship in Cuba.
The financing package also includes the approval of economic assistance to U.S. allies and funds for the “promotion of democracy” in countries such as Cuba and Nicaragua.
Congressman Mario Díaz-Balart highlighted the allocation of 25 million dollars (an increase of 5% compared to 2023) destined for the work of the Cuba Broadcasting Office, in charge of Radio and TV Martí, in 2024.
29. Cuba received a flight from the United States on Thursday in which 61 irregular migrants were deported, including one who “was escaping from a penitentiary where he was serving a sentence for human trafficking,” according to a statement from the Ministry of the Interior (MININT).
The group was made up of 52 men, seven women and two minors. With their arrival, 340 people have been returned in 26 operations from various countries in the region so far this year, official media reported cited by EFE.
April
02. The Cuban Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MINREX) considered the new press reports on the so-called “Havana Syndrome” released in recent days to be a “political propaganda operation.”
These reports came to light as a result of a joint investigation by the U.S. network CBS, the Russian exile media outlet The Insider, and the German magazine Der Spiegel, according to which the mysterious health incidents reported by some 200 United States officials in Cuba and other countries would be the result of deliberate attacks and Russia would be behind them.
“This is not an investigation, it is another political propaganda operation that does not provide any evidence and hides from the public the conclusions of important scientific studies that show that the ‘Havana Syndrome’ does not exist,” said Johana Tablada, deputy director for the United States of the Cuban Foreign Ministry, on X.
U.S.: Coercion of patients closes investigation into “Havana Syndrome” in health institutes
03. The U.S. government believes that Cuba is at “a key moment” after the recent protests in several localities of the island, which motivated responses from the Cuban Foreign Ministry.
The U.S. statements were made by Under Secretary of State for Western Hemisphere Affairs Brian A. Nichols, who also estimated that “there are reasons for hope” because “the people are protesting in the streets with courage.”
For the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MINREX) this consideration by the United States is an admission “with total shamelessness” of Washington’s intentions to bet on a “regime change.”
12. Thanks to an educational exchange program, children from the Harriet Tubman Elementary School in Washington learned about the history and culture of Cuba. The Embassy Adoption Program is the public project that promotes cultural ties and unites the embassies accredited in the capital of the United States, including the Cuban one, reported Prensa Latina (PL) news agency.
12. More than 3,000 applications for humanitarian parole for Cubans were rejected in a single day this week, according to sources and media outlets in South Florida.
The rejections amounted to 3,482 and occurred on April 9, causing a stir among those who aspired to emigrate to the United States by this means.
This is a record number of denials, since until then the highest number of rejections in one day was 20, on April 3, according to Angel Baullosa, co-founder of the company Immigrate, which monitors requests for humanitarian parole.
12. Former U.S. diplomat Victor Manuel Rocha was sentenced in a federal court in Miami to 15 years in prison on charges related to spying for Cuba for 40 years after pleading guilty during a hearing held by Judge Beth Bloom.
Former U.S. ambassador to plead guilty to charges of espionage for Cuba
Rocha, 73 years old and former U.S. ambassador to several Latin American countries, was accused of “acting as an illegal agent of a foreign government (Cuba)” and of conspiracy to commit the same crime and disappointing the United States.
14. The Cuban government accused U.S. intelligence agencies of “mounting an operation” to “provoke a social explosion” taking advantage of the “complex economic situation” that the island is going through.
“They hope to heat up the Cuban streets during the summer, taking advantage of the complex economic situation that the country is experiencing,” according to the Granma newspaper.
17. Cuban Deputy Foreign Minister Carlos Fernández de Cossío said that the delegations from Cuba and the United States held a “frank discussion” on migration issues during the bilateral dialogue held in Washington.
“It was a frank discussion. We cannot say that we agreed exactly on everything we discussed, but we had the opportunity to make proposals on each side based on how they believe the agreements are being fulfilled,” the diplomat commented after the talks.
23. A report updated to April 15 reveals that 1,314,330 Cubans live in the United States, which makes the island the seventh country with the most residents in that nation.
The document on Washington’s Nationalization Policy, from the Congressional Research Service, also states that 64% already have nationality. The report indicates that Cuba is preceded by citizens of Mexico, India, China, the Philippines, El Salvador and Vietnam, out of a total of 25 countries included in the ranking.
May
04. The Cuban drug Heberprot-P for the treatment of diabetic foot ulcers, used successfully in several countries, will have a clinical trial in the United States. The news was confirmed by the U.S. company Discovery Therapeutics Caribe (DTC), which was authorized to carry out the study by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA).
09. With “immediate effect,” Western Union announced the resumption of remittances to Cuba from the United States, suspended since February due to “technical problems with the processing of transactions” on the island. The money sent through this channel is processed through Orbit S.A., an entity operated by the Cuban government legally established in 2020.
10. The Cuban Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MINREX) expressed its “deep concern” over the recent acquittal of the attacker of the island’s Embassy in Washington in 2020, and considered that this decision sends “a dangerous message of impunity.”
The aggressor, named Alexander Alazo Baró, was acquitted of the four charges by a judge of the Court for the District of Columbia. In his decision, issued on May 1, the magistrate “alleged conditions of insanity of the perpetrator,” the Foreign Ministry said in a statement.
The MINREX recalled that Alazo Baró, who has lived in the United States since 2010, “fired 32 bullets from a magazine of an AK-47 semi-automatic rifle against the Cuban diplomatic headquarters in Washington, causing extensive material damage to the exterior and interior of the building and endangering the lives of several people who were inside the building.”
13. Businesspeople, politicians and farmers began the 5th United States-Cuba Agricultural Conference in Havana. In the opinion of Congressman Rick Crawford, holding these types of meetings on a regular basis constitutes “progress,” although “we are still not where we would like to be,” according to Prensa Latina (PL) news agency.
13. The United States removed Cuba from its list of countries that “do not fully cooperate with anti-terrorist efforts,” according to a new report from the State Department.
The new document states that “the circumstances that led to certifying that Havana was not fully cooperating with these efforts had changed from 2022 to 2023 and that therefore it could no longer certify that the island was not fully cooperating with the anti-terrorism issue under the Arms Export Control Act in calendar year 2023.”
U.S. law establishes specific legal criteria for rescinding a designation of a nation as a sponsor of terrorism and therefore “any review of Cuba’s status on that blacklist would be based on the law and criteria established by the United States Congress.” For three consecutive years until the report referring to 2022, Washington has kept Cuba on the list.
16. Businesspeople, producers, and authorities from the agricultural sector of the United States highlighted the “advances” and the “potential” of trade between both countries in this area.
After three days of activities as part of the 5th United States-Cuba Agricultural Conference, held in Havana, the visitors confirmed their desire to continue these meetings and working to increase the bilateral relationship at a time when the country is suffering from a severe economic crisis that has agriculture as one of the most depressed sectors.
“We have made great progress to strengthen ties and we will work step by step to achieve our objectives,” said Commissioner of the Louisiana Department of Agriculture Mike Strain at the close of the event.
16. Responding to a journalist about the reasons why Cuba was removed from the aforementioned list, the deputy spokesperson for the State Department, Vedant Patel, acknowledged the validity and breadth of the embargo. “Cuba remains subject to an incredibly comprehensive embargo,” Patel admitted, as can be read in the transcript of the press briefing of the State Department.
17. The U.S. government confirmed that it maintains Cuba on the list of state sponsors of terrorism. The decision was ratified after the island’s removal from the list of “countries that do not fully cooperate with anti-terrorist efforts” was announced, and Washington admitted that it cooperates with Havana in some activities to combat terrorism.
20. Democratic members of Congress reacted positively to the step taken by the Biden administration, which admitted Cuba’s cooperation in the fight against terrorism. House members Jim McGovern, ranking member of the House Rules Committee, and Barbara Lee, ranking member of the House Appropriations State and Foreign Operations Subcommittee, welcomed the State Department’s move.
20. An official Cuban delegation visited Miami International Airport, U.S. officials confirmed. According to the Miami-Dade County Aviation Department, the visit lasted about five hours, during which time the Cuban delegation was able to observe a security checkpoint and a baggage checkpoint inside the airport.
The authorization was provided by the U.S. Transportation Security Administration. A spokesman for the State Department, under which the TSA operates, said the visit is similar to others made in past years by Cuban officials, in the interest of cooperation on civil aviation security.
22. Secretary of State Antony Blinken defended before the House of Representatives having removed Cuba from the list of countries that “do not fully cooperate” against terrorism because circumstances have changed.
The United States keeps Cuba on another list, that of countries that sponsor terrorism, a measure that entails economic sanctions.
23. A group of 31 rafters was returned to Cuba by the U.S. Coast Guard. The migrants had been intercepted days ago at sea after making two illegal exits from the island, one through Havana and another through Matanzas, according to official sources.
28. The United States announced that it allows Cuban entrepreneurs to open and use U.S. bank accounts over the Internet to carry out financial transactions from the island.
The Treasury Department explained in a press release that this announcement, along with other measures, seeks to “promote internet freedom in Cuba, support independent Cuban private sector entrepreneurs, and expand access to certain financial services for the Cuban people.”
U.S. authorizes Cuban entrepreneurs to open U.S. bank accounts through Internet
The Treasury said that since May 28, Cuban entrepreneurs are authorized to “open, maintain, and remotely use U.S. bank accounts, including through online payment platforms, to conduct authorized transactions” whether from the United States, Cuba, or any other country.
The United States also updated its definition of Cuban entrepreneur to include not only self-employed workers but also cooperatives and small private enterprises with up to 100 employees, which will be able to access the U.S. banking system.
The U.S. also lifted the blockade on fund transfers originating and ending outside the United States, a measure that seeks to facilitate the sending of remittances to Cuba. “The measures announced today by the U.S. government are limited,” wrote Foreign Minister Bruno Rodríguez on X.
29. The Hemingway-Pfeiffer Museum of the University of Arkansas and the National Council of Cultural Heritage signed a Memorandum of Understanding in Havana. The document “will allow for intensified contributions” in academic matters between the U.S. institution and the Ernest Hemingway Museum Finca Vigía, as shared on social media by the island’s cultural institution.
30. The Harvard University Jazz Orchestra performed at the Casa de las Américas. It is directed by Cuban saxophonist Yosvany Terry, who has lived in the United States for decades and is linked to jazz and Cuban roots.
June
02. Pánfilo, Chequera and Isidoro, popular characters from the comedy show Vivir del cuento, are the protagonists of a campaign by the United States Embassy in Cuba.
The campaign is called “Migra legally to the United States” and will address the procedures and other topics of interest for those who wish to do so.
According to the diplomatic headquarters on its social media, the three characters — played by actors Luis Silva, Mario Sardiñas and Marlon Pijuan — will discuss these aspects with “someone with very good knowledge.”
08. The United States ruled out that the arrival in the port of Havana of three Russian ships and a nuclear submarine, between June 12 and 17, constituted a direct threat to its security, considering that they are part of regular Russian military maneuvers.
“Russia’s deployments are part of a routine naval activity and do not worry us, since they do not represent a direct threat to the United States,” official sources stated. The Department of Defense has previewed for Russia to carry out “intense naval activity near the United States” in the summer, which could culminate in a global exercise in the fall.
12. U.S. military authorities denied that an air strike by the United States against the jihadist group Al-Shabaab killed two Cuban doctors kidnapped five years ago in Somalia on February 15.
The Al-Shabaab terrorists and the two Cuban doctors: a chronology
The news of their death had been given by the terrorist organization Al-Shabaab, as a result of a bombing in an area of the African country where the doctors were supposedly being held. However, a report from the U.S. Military Command in Africa (AFRICOM) sent to the EFE news agency on Wednesday, although it confirms the attack, denies the death of the doctors.
13. Foreign Minister Bruno Rodríguez considered that the report from the U.S. Military Command in Africa (AFRICOM) on the alleged death in Somalia of the two Cuban doctors kidnapped by the group Al-Shabaab “does not provide anything new.”
The Foreign Minister said he was “surprised” by the military entity’s report, which denied that Cuban doctors Assel Herrera and Landy Rodríguez were among the victims of a U.S. air attack against the jihadist organization in February.
“Since April we have been waiting, without response, for the investigations that Cuba officially requested regarding the AFRICOM attacks in another town in Somalia,” said the island’s Foreign Minister on X.
12. “There is a new revolution that has taken root in Cuba. That is the revolution of young entrepreneurs who are taking charge of their situation, who are transforming their country, who are improving, growing, expanding, learning, despite the obstacles of the United States or their own country.”
“And that is the new revolution that we have to understand, instead of speaking in terms of the 1959 revolution, communism, socialism, capitalism, and those restrictive categories of how we see Cuba today. We have to educate our side about those realities. And frankly, we are behind. Our side doesn’t understand it,” said in Havana Paul Johnson, leader of the United States-Cuba Agricultural Coalition.
13. The U.S. government reiterated its intention to support the growing private sector in Cuba as a factor in containing the historical influence of Moscow and Beijing on the island for more than six decades.
At a hearing before the House Foreign Affairs Committee, Assistant Secretary of State for Western Hemisphere Affairs Brian Nichols said the United States remains concerned about attempts by Russia and China to “shape the nature of Cuba’s future.”
The event inquired about the topic entitled “Competition among great powers in the Western Hemisphere,” two hundred years after the implementation of the Monroe Doctrine, a key strategy of U.S. foreign policy to defend its interests in Latin America and the Caribbean, then from colonial European powers.
15. The Cuban government declared its displeasure at the presence of a U.S. war submarine in Guantanamo Bay because visits by naval means are “an invitation, and this is not the case.”
Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Carlos Fernández de Cossío said: “We obviously do not like the presence in our territory and transiting through our waters of a medium of that nature, belonging to a power that maintains an official and practical policy that is hostile against Cuba.”
21. The number of Cubans with humanitarian parole continued to grow, although not at the same rate as the high number of applications. More than 100,000 Cubans born on the island had received this immigration benefit from the U.S. authorities by May, according to official data. Of these, approximately 98,200 had already entered the country, the CBP said in its report.
21. Some 56 Cubans were returned to the island in what was the 15th deportation flight from the United States this year, according to the U.S. Embassy in Havana. This group brought the total to 48 operations of this type, involving 744 irregular migrants returned from different countries in the region, both by air and sea, the Ministry of the Interior (MININT) detailed.
23. The United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agency is seeking to resume direct deportation flights of Venezuelan migrants to their country and to increase repatriations of Cubans, which was restarted this year after being suspended during the COVID-19 pandemic.
25. The U.S. government again included Cuba on its human trafficking blacklist, an issue on which Washington and Havana have openly opposing interpretations.
U.S. once again includes Cuba on its human trafficking blacklist
As last year, the island was placed on the most serious level of the annual report on the subject, published by the State Department, which includes countries that, in the opinion of the U.S. authorities, do not meet the minimum standards for the elimination of this scourge and do not make significant efforts to do so.
30. Wayne Smith, former U.S. diplomat and academic and former head of the Interests Section in Cuba between 1979 and 1982, died at the age of 92. He worked for decades to normalize relations between Cuba and the United States, advocated for the elimination of the embargo/blockade, for the return of the territory occupied by the Guantanamo Naval Base, and condemned terrorism and hostile policies.
“The idea that by maintaining the embargo and a hostile environment we could overthrow the Castro government was absurd. It was a delusion on the part of the United States and U.S. leaders,” he said in an interview with AFP in 2015, more than thirty years after finishing his diplomatic mission in Havana.
July
10. The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops urged the Joe Biden administration to remove Cuba from the list of countries sponsoring terrorism and begin the path of mutual understanding.
In a letter addressed to Secretary of State Antony Blinken, the president of the Justice and Peace Committee, Bishop Elías Zaidan, reaffirmed the position of the Conference, which together with the Holy See and governments and international organizations, have also called for the lifting of the embargo/blockade by Washington.
31. Foreign MinisterBruno Rodríguez considered recent accusations from the United States that Cuba seeks to influence the electoral process in that country to be “unfounded.” “Accusations about Cuba’s influence in U.S. elections are unfounded. We do not interfere in the internal affairs of other countries,” the Cuban Foreign Minister said on X.
The publication responds to statements by an official from the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, according to whom the Cuban government carries out “influence operations” in U.S. elections.
August
01. A total of 46 congresspeople urged President Biden to reverse the designation that weighs on Cuba as a state sponsor of terrorism and recognized its participation in the peace process and agreements in Colombia.
07. The United States Mint announced that Celia Cruz was chosen, along with four other exemplary women in history, to appear on the 25-cent coin. The Cuban star will be immortalized on the new commemorative quarter as part of the U.S. Women’s 25-cent Coin Program this 2024, Billboard magazine reported.
10. Chicken exports from the United States to Cuba fell in the first half of 2024 compared to the same period last year. However, the value of chicken imported by the island from the neighboring country was now higher.
Between January and June, exports of this product to Cuba were 127,000 tons ― equivalent to about 5,000 containers ― while in those same months of 2023, they had been a bit over 139,000.
14. The United States Embassy in Havana announced the expansion of its services with the purpose of including “certain categories of temporary work visas and exchange programs.”
Cubans with temporary work petitions approved by the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) will be able to schedule a visa interview in Havana.
Likewise, participants in exchange visit programs with an approved Certificate of Eligibility will be able to do so.
20. With the humanitarian parole program on hold due to irregularities and cases of fraud detected by the authorities, the number of approved Cubans reached 110,000.
By the end of July, that was the number of Cubans examined and authorized to travel to U.S. territory, something that some 109,000 had already done at that time. The number represented a growth of more than 3,000 compared to June when 106,757 had already been approved.
Adding the year 2023 and the seven months of 2024, Cubans continued to be third in the number of approved people among the four nations that make up the program.
29. The U.S. government resumed the allocation of humanitarian permits for emigrants from Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua and Venezuela in a number of up to 360,000 people per year.
U.S. resumes humanitarian parole for immigrants from Cuba, Nicaragua, Venezuela and Haiti
The Department of Homeland Security confirmed the resumption of the process after a pause of almost four weeks. A statement from the entity explained that the selection process has been improved, especially that of the sponsors of the people who apply for parole.
September
13. Minister of Foreign Affairs Bruno Rodríguez called on the U.S. government to respond to the questions of Cuban entrepreneurs about the application of the measures announced by the Biden administration last May. He said that the possibility of opening bank accounts in dollars in the United States is inapplicable and that “so far no movement has occurred.”
Bruno Rodríguez: “The U.S. measures for Cuban entrepreneurs are inapplicable”
“They have not been applied because the oppressive and suffocating framework of the blockade prevents it. You have to be crazy to interact with Cuban entities under that oppressive circumstance. The risks for U.S. banks, for example, are very great,” he said.
The Foreign Ministry also questioned how technology companies could discern between state and private enterprises to offer Internet services that are currently blocked, another of the measures that the Biden administration announced in May.
19. President Biden has extended for another year the Trading with the Enemy Act, a 1917 regulation under which the embargo/blockade on Cuba was imposed.
“I hereby determine that the continued exercise of such authorities with respect to Cuba for one year is in the national interest of the United States,” Biden said in the brief memorandum sent to the Treasury Department, published in the Federal Register.
20. Cuban pianist Jesús Chucho Valdés and saxophonist and clarinetist Paquito D’Rivera already have a commemorative date on the calendar. The city of Saint Louis, in the southern state of Missouri, declared that every September 19 will be the day of both Cuban musicians in the United States.
22. The 5th Meeting of Residents in the United States that took place at the Cuban mission to the United Nations in New York, reaffirmed the government’s will to promote relations with its compatriots in that country, according to a note from the Prensa Latina news agency.
Among the main concerns, the diaspora learned in depth about the recently approved laws on migration, nationality and aliens, which are about to come into force. According to Ana Teresita González, head of the General Department of Consular Affairs and Assistance to Cubans Living Abroad (DGACCRE), “we are willing to analyze any project or business.” The DGACCRE will support initiatives promoted by Cubans residing outside the national territory.
October
02. The children’s theater company La Colmenita concluded its tour of the United States in Washington DC, which included visits and performances in Tampa and New York. The presentation in the U.S. capital took place at the Imagination Stage theater with the staging of Cinderella according to The Beatles, a free version in English by the founder and director of the group Carlos Alberto Cremata of the popular fairytale “Cinderella.”
02. In recent years, Cuba has faced “a growing open incitement to violence from the United States,” said Cuban Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Josefina Vidal Ferreiro.
The Cuban government has repeatedly notified the authorities of these events, she said at the International Conference on Victims of Terrorism organized by the UN and the government of Spain in the city of Vitoria.
12. The famous filmmaker and activist Michael Moore asked Joe Biden, in his last 100 days in office as president, to lift the embargo on Cuba and close the Guantanamo naval base.
12. Cuba imported 46 times more used cars from the United States than food in August, according to a report published by the Economic Eye On Cuba (EEOC) blog, which uses official data provided by various U.S. agencies, including the Department of Commerce.
The purchases, which must be paid in cash because Washington does not extend commercial credits to Cuba due to sanctions, do not take into account the sectors, state or private, responsible for the acquisitions.
17. The Cuban government denounced the “lack of will” that in its opinion the U.S. authorities demonstrate in the face of the attacks suffered by the embassy in Washington. There is “a lack of will and to a certain extent complicity on the part of the federal agencies of the United States that are in charge of preventing terrorist actions,” said Johana Tablada, deputy director for the United States of the Cuban Foreign Ministry.
22. The U.S. government said it is following “closely” the blackouts that Cuba has suffered in recent days and assured that it does not rule out providing aid to the island.
23. The ruling of a federal appeals court in the United States on Tuesday overturned the judicial decision that forced several cruise companies to pay fines of more than 400 million dollars for having carried out operations using properties confiscated by the Cuban government after 1959, without compensation to their owners.
24. The Court of Appeals of the 11th Circuit based in the city of Atlanta backed the claim of Carnival, Norwegian, Royal Caribbean and MSC Cruises, affected by the verdict issued at the end of 2022 by U.S. District Judge Beth Bloom, by a 2-1 vote, the Miami Herald reported.
24. “If the U.S. government is truly willing to help, it knows and clearly understands where it can make a difference and what needs to be done. There is no need for too many explanations or specific requests,” responded Deputy Foreign Minister Carlos Fernández de Cossío.
The New York Times publishes letter to Biden demanding end to “brutal” policy on Cuba
30. With 187 votes in favor, one abstention and two votes against, the United Nations General Assembly once again supported the Cuban government’s resolution on “the need to put an end to the economic, commercial and financial blockade imposed by the United States.” The votes against were from the United States and Israel, and Moldova abstained.
November
10. According to the New York-based U.S. Trade & Economic Council, Inc., U.S. agricultural and food exports to Cuba increased by 53.3% in September 2024. They were $31,150,492, compared to $20,317,573 in September 2023 and $38,167,679 in September 2022.
All of this is taking place within the framework of the Trade Sanctions Reform and Export Enhancement Act (TSREEA) of 2000, the Cuban Democracy Act (CDA) of 1992, and regulations implemented (1992 to date) for other products by the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) of the U.S. Department of the Treasury and the Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) of the U.S. Department of Commerce.
16. The U.S. Embassy in Havana announced the arrival of a new Chief of Mission (Chargé d’Affaires): career diplomat Mike Hammer, 60 years old and with more than three decades of service.
Hammer, who recently served as Special Envoy for the Horn of Africa, has a diplomatic career as ambassador to Chile and the Democratic Republic of the Congo, in addition to working as a diplomat in Bolivia, Norway, Iceland and Denmark.
20. A group of 18 congresspeople urged President Biden to ease sanctions against Cuba and eliminate its designation among the nations sponsoring terrorism. The letter is driven by a “deep sense of urgency” and requests “immediate actions to stabilize Cuba’s energy infrastructure and provide critical humanitarian assistance.”
28. The Cuban government referred for the first time to Donald Trump’s victory in the elections and assured that “the country is prepared” for a new term of the Republicans. President Miguel Díaz-Canel said that the election results “are not new” and were a “scenario predicted” by the Cuban authorities.
He reiterated his criticism of the U.S. sanctions, a package he described as “perverse and genocidal.” He recalled that the last series of sanctions was imposed during the first term of Republican Trump and that the current U.S. president has maintained “the same position of hostility.”
“The Cuban people are currently facing widespread blackouts and a growing energy crisis, exacerbated by the impact of Hurricane Rafael. The situation is not only causing immense suffering to the Cuban people but also poses serious risks to the national security interests of the United States.”
29. The private MSME Danaus SRL won a victory in a U.S. court against the company Overseas of the Americas Corp., as reported by Univision. The ruling responds to a lawsuit for breach of a contract for the sale of a load of chicken for a total value of 84,000 dollars.
Danaus SRL is a company based in Havana that is dedicated to the distribution of wholesale products throughout Cuba, according to its social networks. Meanwhile, Overseas of the Americas Corp. is based in the state of Florida and was created on July 6, 2021.
The case creates a precedent for businesspeople to be able to file lawsuits from Cuba against U.S. entities.
December
05. The Cuban government estimated that it is “not realistic” for the next Republican administration of Donald Trump to deport the “hundreds of thousands” of Cubans currently living illegally in the United States.
Given the imminent arrival of Trump to the White House on January 20, and the promises of the president-elect to carry out mass deportations from the first day of his mandate, the Cuban authorities assured that any proposal of this type would have to be examined within the limits of the existing agreements between Washington and Havana.
“In that context, it is not realistic to think that there will be mass deportations from the United States to Cuba,” said Cuban Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Carlos Fernández de Cossío, cited by the Reuters news agency.
06. A foreign adversary of the United States is likely responsible for some of the Havana Syndrome incidents, a House of Representatives investigative committee has concluded, debunking the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) version and accusing it of withholding valuable information.
Representative Rick Crawford, chairman of the House Intelligence Subcommittee that oversees the CIA, released an interim report that castigates the U.S. intelligence community for “attempting to frustrate” the investigation and producing a “dubious or misleading” prior assessment that dismissed the incidents, reported an article published in El Nuevo Herald, Miami.
“It seems increasingly likely and the chairman [of the subcommittee] is convinced that a foreign adversary is behind some” of these incidents, the report said.
11. U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Wednesday that he “does not anticipate” any change in Cuba policy before outgoing President Joe Biden leaves power on January 20, 2025.
“I do not anticipate any change in our policy toward Cuba by this administration,” said the head of U.S. diplomacy during an appearance before a parliamentary committee.
11. The Cuban Foreign Ministry responded to the approval of the “No Recognized Stolen Brands” law, recently signed by President Joe Biden, with a strong condemnation.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MINREX) considers it a “unilateral coercive” measure that reinforces Washington’s embargo against the island’s economy, which is going through the worst moment of its prolonged economic crisis.
13. The U.S. government decided to keep Cuba for another year on the list of countries that in its opinion sponsor terrorism, which entails a series of sanctions for the island.
This is stated in the 2023 report on terrorism in the world published this Thursday by the State Department. Cuba shares a category with North Korea, Iran and Syria, countries that Washington accuses of “providing repeated support to acts of international terrorism.”
17. The Cuban government denied that it is uncomfortable with the political rapprochement with the United States and acknowledged that it is “concerned” about the economic effect that a second Donald Trump term may have.
“Of course, we are concerned about the effect that greater hostility from the United States, which has proven to be very powerful and to have a very effective destructive capacity to cause damage, may have on our economy, and in particular, the effect it may have on the standard of living of the population,” said Cuban Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Carlos Fernández de Cossío.
Author
OnCuba Staff
