WASHINGTON (Dispatches) – The Biden administration is using starvation as a weapon against Havana by refusing to lift the very sanctions that helped fuel Cuba’s economic crisis in the first place, including those targeting payments from relatives in America, activists told Sputnik.
Meanwhile, President Joe Biden, despite Cuba’s dire economic situation, has so far refused to remove any sanctions that were imposed by his predecessor.
On Thursday, Biden told reporters he would not ease restrictions on remittances sent from U.S. residents to relatives in Cuba because he fears Havana will likely confiscate the money.
President Donald Trump’s administration reversed many of the steps the Obama administration took to normalize U.S.-Cuban relations - a slight thaw that came after decades of tensions that began during the Cold War including a trade embargo Washington imposed in 1962.
“The U.S. is using starvation as a weapon and cautioning the Cuban government not to use violence,” National Network on Cuba Co-Chair Cheryl LaBash told Sputnik.
LaBash said she and her fellow activists expected Biden to follow through on his campaign promise to further normalize relations with Cuba and they were preparing to push him towards ending the embargo imposed during the Cold War.
Network in Defense of Humanity-USA member James Counts Early also blasted the Biden-Harris administration for breaking its promise to normalize relations with Cuba.
“They have continued Trump’s strictures and pushed the people towards rebellion,” Early told Sputnik.
Meanwhile, North Korea has joined other nations in slamming U.S.-sponsored demonstrations in the Caribbean nation of Cuba, describing recent anti-Havana protests as an outcome of “behind-the-scene manipulation” by foreign forces.
“The anti-government protests that occurred in Cuba are an outcome of behind-the-scene manipulation by the outside forces coupled with their persistent anti-Cuba blockade scheming to obliterate socialism and the revolution,” said a North Korean Foreign Ministry spokesperson in a Friday statement.
“We express our full support to and solidarity with all efforts and measures taken by the government and people of Cuba for safeguarding the dignity and sovereignty of the country and defending to the end their fatherland,” the statement added.
“We are confident that Cuba would smash the interference of foreign forces, creditably overcome the present situation, and firmly safeguard the political stability of the country.”
The statement also said Pyongyang “condemns and rejects the attempt at interfering in the internal affairs by the outside forces scheming to overthrow the socialist system of Cuba by taking advantage of the recent anti-government protests.”
The development came as Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel declared on Friday that Washington had failed in its attempt to “destroy” his nation, dismissing claims by U.S. President Joe Biden that Havana was “repressing” its citizens and that his administration “was considering ways to force open internet restrictions in Cuba.”