Jill Biden after five years of walking on Cuba stones – Prinsa Latina

Between flashes, walks in the historic center of this capital, galleries, art performances and other activities in downtown Camagüey, the agenda of the wife of former Vice President of North America and current president, Joe Biden, passed.

During the official visit, between October 6 and 9, 2016, the academic exchanged with government officials, businessmen and prominent women in the sectors of education, health and scientific research activity.

The teacher’s program with a PhD in Pedagogy also left space for the friendly soccer match between Team USA and Cuba, a symbolic meeting being the first of its kind since 1947.

The process of normalizing diplomatic relations began in December 2014 under the administrations of Barack Obama (2009-2017) and Joe Biden, and will remain, under the blow of President Donald Trump (2017-2021), at the supposed point of no return.

In June 2017, the New York magnate signed a memorandum that rescinded his predecessor’s directive and suppressed most developments in relations with Havana.

I am canceling the entire bilateral agreement of the previous government. Announcing a new policy, as promised during the campaign, Trump said, he announced restrictions on the entry of foreign currency into the Caribbean country and a strict implementation of the economic embargo.

More than 240 coercive measures to strangle residents of the largest island in the Antilles are listed as the legacy of the 45th Oval Office incumbent, as part of a policy that Joe Biden, in the days of his presidential campaign, promised to review.

Trump’s list against Cuba is littered with restrictions on US citizens’ travel, barriers to foreign trade, exports, and sending remittances, as well as smear campaigns and the suspension of flights to Cuban airports, with the exception of La Havana.

Under the pretext of health accidents reported here by US diplomats, for which science has not found a cause, and reports from the US State Department revealed government mismanagement, consular services were closed in the Caribbean capital.

This decision affected the suspension of the family reunification program, the granting of visitor visas, and orderly and safe immigration, as Cubans are obliged to travel to third countries for all their procedures, which increases costs without ensuring approval.

The inclusion of Cuba in the list of countries supposedly sponsoring terrorism was one of the last, and perhaps most symbolic, measures because the current administration, despite its promises to get back on track before June 2017, has not removed it, like none of Trump’s other rulings. On the contrary, Biden has kept the island among the countries allegedly not cooperating with Washington’s efforts in that region, and while he is reviewing policy toward his neighbor, which he says is not a priority, he is asking for millions of dollars for it. sabotage programs.

As the US Deputy Director of the Cuban Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Johanna Tablada, wrote on Twitter, this country’s policy toward the Caribbean nation “has nothing to do with the aspirations of the majority of Cubans and North Americans.”

“It responds fully to the irrational political polarization of the United States and pressure from electoral interests in Florida that profit from anti-Cuba politics,” he said.

For now, when the stellar news program on Cuban television remembers Jill Biden’s footsteps on this city’s cobblestones, the question remains whether, in private, she would tell her husband the stories of her days in the Caribbean.

More curiosity is being generated if this, combined with the demands of activists, organizations and countries to stop unilateral pressure on Cuba, can support the reopening of the thaw.

acl / ool / cgc