Washington, Mar 28 (EFE).- The Foreign Relations Committee of the United States House of Representatives, responsible for international legislation, on Tuesday gave its support to a bill to prevent the US Government from relations with Cuba “until democracy is restored on the island.”
The bill, promoted by Republican congresswoman María Elvira Salazar, of Florida, would prohibit Washington from removing “the Cuban regime” from the list of countries that sponsor terrorism as long as the authorities in Havana do not commit to holding “free and fair elections.” among other requirements.
The legislation has also been introduced in the US Senate by Republican lawmakers Marco Rubio and Rick Scott.
Its approval in the Foreign Affairs Committee of the Lower House has been carried out with bipartisan support, the office of Congresswoman Salazar reported in a statement.
In addition to demanding the holding of transparent elections, the law would make it a requirement for the normalization of relations that the Cuban authorities release all “political prisoners” and allow prison investigations by international human rights organizations.
On Thursday, the government of Democrat Joe Biden ruled out removing Cuba from the list of countries that sponsor terrorism for now, in which it was placed by the previous Administration of President Donald Trump (2017-2021).
This was expressed by the country’s Secretary of State, Antony Blinken, when asked during an appearance before the Foreign Relations Committee of the US House of Representatives.
“We do not plan to remove them from the list,” he asserted after questioning, precisely, from Congresswoman Salazar.
Cuba’s inclusion on the list in January 2021 was one of the last decisions the Trump government made before leaving power.
The United States then justified the measure, which entails several sanctions, alluding to the presence on the island of members of the Colombian ELN guerrilla, who traveled to Havana to start peace negotiations with the Colombian Executive.
The island had been removed from the list in 2015, during the stage of rapprochement promoted by then US President Barack Obama (2009-2017) and stopped by Trump, who during his tenure redoubled sanctions on Havana and stopped the “thaw”.
The current Biden Administration has made some gestures towards the island, such as eliminating the limit on remittances to Cuba, but it is still far from Obama’s approach.
