The first adverse effects of the change in U.S. policy toward Cuba \u201cis already being felt,\u201d Josefina Vidal, general director for the United States at the island\u2019s Foreign Ministry, stated last Friday.
\nAt the closing of a seminar on relations between both countries, Vidal affirmed that Cuba has not only verbally extended its hand, but rather it \u201chas taken concrete steps to maintain civilized and mutually beneficial relations.\u201d
\nShe also reiterated the Cuban government\u2019s intention to continue the dialogue and cooperation \u201cwith no impositions or preconditions.\u201d
\nHowever, she said, \u201cone of parties\u2019 will is not enough.\u201d
\nAccording to Josefina Vidal, the effects of the new sanctions imposed by Washington are already having an impact on Americans\u2019 trips to the island, which started to drop after registering a spectacular growth in the two previous years.
\nBetween January and November they registered an increase of 248 percent thanks to the 579,288 visits to Cuba by U.S. citizens. To these are added the 386,388 trips by Cuban residents in the United States, which is why the total figure stands at approximately a million visitors.
\n\u201cHowever, in recent weeks a notable decrease is appreciated in the pace of the growth due to the combined impact of the unusual travel warning of the Department of State and the government\u2019s measures against the trips,\u201d Vidal said.
\nIn September the U.S. Department of State recommended to its nationals to not travel to Cuba for safety reasons, after alleged acoustic attacks were reported against U.S. diplomats in Havana, which are still under an ongoing investigation.
\nFor that same reason most of its officials on the island were evacuated, which is why the consular services of the U.S. Embassy in Havana were reduced to a minimum and the issuing of visas was canceled, and proceedings must not be carried out in Colombia.
\n\u201cMany Cubans have been unable to attend cultural, sports, scientific and academic events since they have not been able to get their visas in Havana and visits by dozens of U.S. groups, including university students, have been canceled,\u201d Vidal commented.
\nMoreover, the Trump administration expelled 15 officials from the Cuban Embassy in Washington, which also affected the island\u2019s consular activities in the United States.
\nCuba has repeatedly denied its responsibility in the incidents and has asked the U.S. government for greater collaboration to clear up what happened. It has even questioned the veracity of the \u201cincidents\u201d for lack of evidences provided by the U.S. side.<\/p>\n
In November the United States deepened the gap in bilateral relations when it issued new restrictions that ban doing business with enterprises linked to the Cuban armed forces and intelligence service and eliminate the popular individual trips to the island in the \u201cpeople-to-people\u201d category.
\nThese measures \u201cgenerate confusion in terms of what is permitted or not, they have an intimidating and dissuasive effect and confirm the serious rollback that has taken place in relations between both countries,\u201d Josefina Vidal explained.
\nIn addition, she regretted that those steps have \u201cbeen accompanied by repeated disrespectful and offensive statements toward Cuba by President (Donald) Trump\u2026which retake the hostile rhetoric of the periods of greatest confrontation, adding an additional negative component that strains the bilateral atmosphere.\u201d
\nOther adverse effects mentioned by Vidal were the Department of State\u2019s refusal to authorize officials to participate in scientific events in Cuba, and the penalization of cooperation in terms of health and the environment.
\nThe diplomat said that the U.S. government decided to hold in Washington meetings of the principal bodies for bilateral dialogue which had already been included in the agenda for Havana.
\nOn the other hand, according to Vidal, Cuba \u201chas taken concrete steps\u201d to continue advancing in bilateral relations.
\nShe mentioned the presentation of \u201cseven plans for the implementation of the memorandums of understanding signed for cooperation in areas like hydrography and geodesy, protected areas, seismology, meteorology, cancer control, animal and plant health and the twinning of national parks.\u201d
\nThe Cuban government also reiterated proposals for joint cooperation in confronting the traffic in persons, terrorism and migratory fraud, money laundering, among other issues, together with scientific collaboration and patents rights.
\n\u201cWe are waiting for the replies,\u201d she affirmed.
\nVidal affirmed that despite the cooling of relations, the \u201cinterest and persistence\u201d of companies from both countries has lately allowed for reaching new business deals in prioritized sectors like transportation, infrastructure, agriculture and tourism, and others are being negotiated in the areas of health, energy and biotechnology.
\nCuba, she said, will continue \u201cworking with all persons of goodwill in the United States, aware that there is a generalized consensus in both countries\u2019 societies in favor of improving relations between our countries and peoples.\u201d
\nThis December 17 it was three years since the announcement of the reestablishment of relations between Cuba and the U.S. after almost six decade of enmity, a change of policy promoted by then President Barack Obama and Cuban President Ra\u00fal Castro, and which Donald Trump decided to roll back.
\nEFE \/ OnCuba<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The first adverse effects of the change in U.S. policy toward Cuba \u201cis already being felt,\u201d Josefina Vidal, general director for the United States at the island\u2019s Foreign Ministry, stated last Friday. At the closing of a seminar on relations between both countries, Vidal affirmed that Cuba has not only verbally extended its hand, but […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2445,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[33],"tags":[959],"ppma_author":[33669],"class_list":["post-110907","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-culture","tag-jose-marti-en"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n