by Xinhua writer Zhao Yi
WASHINGTON, March 13 (Xinhua) -- The U.S. Senate on Tuesday passed a bill that will ease restrictions against travel and medicine on Cuba, which was said to be a signal that Washington is changing its long-standing policy of shunning Havana.
Under the adopted bill, Cuban-Americans will be allowed to visit their homeland once per year rather than once every three years as it was ruled in the past. In addition to "close relatives" -- parents, grandparents, children and siblings, they are also allowed to visit cousins, nieces, nephews, aunts and uncles.
What is more, the bill will allow Cuban-Americans to spend up to 179 dollars per day while in Cuba, and would also ease some restrictions on food and medicine sales to Cuba.
DECADES-OLD EMBARGO
The United States and Cuba has been hostile to each other since the Cuban Revolution in 1959. Shortly after the great political movement, Washington imposed in February 1962 sanctions against the Island country that has been facing commercial, economic and financial embargo since then.
Former U.S. President George W. Bush, who regarded Cuba as followers of Saddam Hussein-ruled Iraq, Iran and the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, all of them were labeled as the Evil of Axis by the Bush administration after "9.11" attack incident.
Apart from the economic sanctions, the Bush administration also established the Commission for Assistance to a free Cuba in October 2005. The institution, co-chaired by the then Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Secretary of Commerce Carlos Gutierrez, was apparently designed to support dissents and opposition parties in Cuba.
Before his departure from the White House, Bush warned time and again that U.S. sanctions against Cuba would remain in force until dictator Fidel Castro takes "meaningful" step to bring about freedom, rule of law and respect for human rights.
NEW HOPE PRESENTED
The revision of the act to relax sanctions against Cuba came at the time when both Cuba and the United States are experiencing unprecedented political reforms: Cuban leader Raul Castro, who was elected as top leader in February 2008, announced a series of government shuffles, as part of the "constant improvement" of the country's administration. Meanwhile, U.S. President Barack Obama and his administration has just spent their 50-day birth.
There is no doubt that both Cuba and the United State are expecting a new beginning of bilateral relations under their new leaders. While Cuban leader Raul Castro, and his predecessor, elder brother, Fidel Castro described Obama as "an honest man," "a good man," Obama has also vowed to "rebuild America" by changing poor U.S. foreign images left by the previous administration.
The U.S. National Foreign Trade Council, a business group that supports an end to the Cuba embargo, welcomed the changes as a "small but important" start in dealing with Cuba. That is true although Washington remains reluctant to lift its whole embargo against Cuba.
U.S. UNDER INCREASING PRESSURE
Obama has voiced support for relaxing limits on family travel and cash remittances by Cuban-Americans to Cuba although he has said the trade embargo should stay in place to press for democratic reforms. Despite its insistence to keep embargo on Cuba, Washington may find it more difficult to go on like this.
Last October, the United Nations voted on the strict U.S. sanctions against Cuba, and for the 17th consecutive year the world overwhelmingly urged the United States to turn its policy around. In addition, Latin American leaders also promoted their support for Cuba by visiting the island country in the past months.
The increasing international call for lifting sanctions against Cuba is naturally an active impetus to the Obama administration to correct mistakes concerning its southern neighbor. Yet, it is hard for the world at this moment to see any fundamental changes of attitude from the new host of the White House about Cuba.
