The letter also requested the U.S. President to lift all sanctions impacting on the Cuban family, which have made life more difficult for the Cuban people subjected for over 60 years to a fierce economic, commercial and financial blockade that has been kept unchanged over time by Democratic and Republican governments.
Resuming the non-immigrant visa processing at the U.S. embassy in Havana; further easing travel restrictions to facilitate people-to-people exchanges and family reunification, as well as urging Joe Biden to return to a path of normalization of relations, were issues added in the letter.
The Alliance for Commitment and Respect for Cuba (ACERE), promoter of this initiative, said that more than 200 Cuban American supporters of President Joe Biden and 30 organizations, along with concerned U.S. citizens and civil society groups, signed the letter.
According to polls, the path of rapprochement enjoys broad support among a large majority of Cuban-American Democrats in Florida and an overwhelming majority of U.S. citizens, ACERE said in a statement.
The signatories include former federal, state and local officials; academics and university administrators; business owners, executives and investors; lawyers; architects; doctors; scientists; educators; artists, musicians and filmmakers; administrators; social workers; veterans and other prominent individuals.
ACERE members met with State Department officials to express their disappointment and disgust with the Joe Biden administration’s policies of economic stifling toward the Cuban people, said activist Carlos Lazo.
“Thetwo-hour meeting took place in an atmosphere of respect and different issues were addressed in relation to the policy towards Cuba and the way it is punishing and stifling the Cuban people,” stressed Lazo.
This initiative joins other similar ones trying to get the attention of Joe Biden, who during his 2020 election campaign promised – and thus won the vote of many Cuban-Americans – to change the failed policies of his predecessor in office, Republican Donald Trump.
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