US readies new Cuba sanctions as Biden meets Cuban-Americans
The Biden administration is expected to impose new sanctions on Cuba on Friday as President Joe Biden meets with Cuban-American leaders at the White House to discuss a U.S. response to recent social protests on the island.
Officials say new moves against the communist government are likely to be announced shortly after Biden’s afternoon meeting, which will cover a range of options the administration is considering in response to the protests, including providing internet access to Cubans. The officials were not authorized to preview the actions and spoke on condition of anonymity.
The White House meeting comes almost three weeks after unusual July 11 protests in which thousands of Cubans took to the streets in Havana and other cities to protest shortages, power outages and government policies. They were the first such protests since the 1990s. Details of the new measures, expected to be announced jointly by the White House, Treasury and State Department, were not immediately clear.
The Biden administration is also considering proposals put forward by U.S. advocates of trade with Cuba that would restore ways for Cuban-Americans to send money to relatives on the island. Biden and others have rejected the outright restoration of remittances because of a percentage fee of the transaction paid to the government. But under one proposal being considered, the transfer agents would waive that fee until the end of the year, according to proponents. The proposal would have to be cleared by the Cuban government, however, and it is not at all clear it would agree.
https://apnews.com/article/technology-joe-biden-politics-cuba-9d23d253d17e5d70b150492f497a6966
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