The United States is working on a plan to allow funds to be sent to the Cuban people without the Castro regime being able to confiscate some of that currency.

Joe Biden asked the Treasury to give him, within a month, recommendations on “how to maximize the flow of remittances to the Cuban people, without the military taking a part.”

Last November, under former President Donald Trump (2017-2021), Washington banned sending remittances to Cuba, a move Biden upheld and put more economic pressure on the island. .

A US official told reporters on Friday that The White House first wants to ensure that the Havana government does not keep part of the money, something difficult to guarantee.

Analyst Manuel Orozco, member of the Inter-American Dialogue, explained in a dialogue with the program CNN Cafe that more than 60% of the remittances sent to Cuba are done informally, through what are called “mules” or “travelers” on the island, and do not contribute money to the government. “There are around 800,000 money transfer transactions per month, of which around 300,000 take place officially, through media such as Western Union or MoneyGram, among others,” he said. “The government ends up, through these transactions, with about $ 2 for each, that is, it can earn a maximum of $ 1 million per month.”

Official fund transfers are also controlled by Fincimex, a financial company owned by the state of Cuba, Orozco points out. Sanctioned in 2020 by the United States, it is for this reason that remittances have been affected by recent Washington policy.

According to estimates from Inter-American Dialogue, a Washington-based international affairs think tank, Cuba received in 2019 remittances worth more than $ 2,055 million, which is 2% of the total. Cuban GDP.

Biden also said they were “working” to increase the staff of the Embassy in Cuba., which was reduced after, in 2017, nearly thirty US diplomats suffered mysterious “health incidents” whose motives have not yet been clarified.

Referring to the Internet, the Democratic leader assured that he was looking for “all the options available” to guarantee full access to Cubans to this service and to allow the people “to escape censorship”. “You always know something’s wrong when a country doesn’t allow its people to be on the Internet and make their case known to the world,” Biden said.

The United States yesterday announced more sanctions against the Cuban regime, this time against the Revolutionary National Police (PNR) and two of its leaders, after the July 11 protests.

The US Treasury Department has sanctioned PNR director Óscar Callejas Valcarce and deputy director Eddy Sierra Arias for their alleged role in cracking down on unprecedented anti-government protests in the Caribbean country.

The sanctions block any assets that Callejas, Sierra or members of the PNR may have under US jurisdiction and prohibit those in the US from trading with them, based on US Magnitsky Law.

Yesterday took place the second round of sanctions imposed by the Biden government, after last Thursday the Treasury announced measures against the Minister of the Revolutionary Armed Forces (FAR) of Cuba, Álvaro López-Miera, and an elite military unit known as “black wasps” or “black berets”.

“We hold the regime responsible,” said Biden hours later, who received a group of Cuban Americans at the White House on Friday.

In addition, he promised more sanctions “unless there is a drastic change in Cuba”, and anticipated among the recipients “those who commit the abuses of the regime”.

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