( credit: Official White House Photo by Pete Souza)  “The culmination of years of talks resulted in this handshake between the President and Cuban President Raúl Castro during the Summit of the Americas in Panama City, Panama”  Apr. 11, 2015.

By Gary  Raynaldo      DIPLOMATIC  TIMES

Congressman James P. McGovern (D-MA) has called on President Joe Biden asking him to restore and repair relations between the United States and Cuba.  Last week, Rep. McGovern, Chairman of the House Rules Committee and a senior member of the House Agriculture Committee,  sent a letter then  President-elect  Biden urging him to change US policy toward Cuba after four years of isolation under Donald Trump. McGovern has been a longtime advocate of normalizing relations with Cuba. He Traveled to Cuba with President Obama in March 2016 and with Secretary Kerry in August 2015.  Rep. McGovern  has introduced legislation to end restrictions on U.S. citizens traveling to Cuba and has been a consistent and strong voice against what he says are the Trump Administration’s failed Cold-War era Cuba policies. On December 17, 2014, U.S. President Barack Obama and Cuban leader Raúl Castro announced the beginning of the process of normalizing relations between Cuba and the United States.  President Trump then reversed the  Obama policy and began imposing crippling economic sanctions on Cuba including placing Havana back on the U.S. list of sponsors of terrorism. 

“I urge you to act early, quickly and comprehensively to repair the great harm that has been done to U.S.-Cuban relations, to the Cuban and American people, and to U.S. international relations with our European and Latin American allies over the past four years.”

-Congressman James P. McGovern (D-MA) wrote in letter to  Joe Biden

“I am so looking forward to working with you on the many domestic, national security and foreign policy priorities facing our great nation and restoring America’s leadership in addressing global challenges. One of these is repairing relations between the United States and Cuba. The deterioration in relations over the past four years will require a restoration of trust on both sides. The Trump Administration has imposed by executive order new restrictions on remittances, travel and commerce; hurt diplomacy with unnecessarily strict limits on the number of U.S. personnel at our Embassy in Havana; and baselessly returned Cuba to the list of State Sponsors of Terrorism (SSOT),”  Rep. McGovern wrote.

Congressman Urges Biden To Restore Fully Functioning U.S. Embassy in Havana,  Cuba

(credit:  Gary  Raynaldo  / © Diplomatic Times)  U.S. Embassy in  Havana,  Cuba

Congressman  McGovern strongly urged Biden to get the U.S. Embassy in Cuba fully staffed and up to speed. 

“The United States has suffered from a skeletal diplomatic operation in Cuba. In 2019, on two congressional trips to Cuba, I saw firsthand how a shuttered U.S. Embassy in Havana adversely affects our ability to advocate effectively on behalf of U.S. interests in Cuba and throughout the region. As access, exchanges and programs in Cuba resume, we will need an ambassador, staff and embassy services that can advance your priorities with the Cuban government; provide support to U.S. private sector, non-profit and humanitarian initiatives; manage Cuban petitions for legal travel and migration; and navigate a return to normal relations. Restoration of full U.S. embassy and consular services in Havana would include the reciprocal restoration of services at the Cuban embassy in Washington, D.C. This is needed for normalized relations to proceed, as well as the processing of visas and support services stemming from renewed U.S. programs, projects and exchanges in Cuba. The U.S. must also safeguard the health and safety of our diplomatic personnel in Havana. Over the past four years, we have discovered this is a matter of global concern for all of our diplomatic corps abroad and needs to be addressed as such. American law enforcement agencies established fairly early that the Cuban government was not the perpetrator of alleged attacks against U.S. personnel. As such, there is no justification for our embassy in Havana to remain minimally staffed.”     -U.S.  Rep.  McGovern 

The congressman also urged Biden to:

-Decouple U.S.-Cuban relations from U.S. policy towards Venezuela and from Florida domestic politics. 

-Open up travel, interchanges and commerce between the American and Cuban people

-Immediately end the application of any sanction against food, medicine and other
humanitarian assistance to Cuba.

-Renew the collaborative working groups and dialogues, including on human rights and
economic and financial reforms