For Immediate Release:
The Brooklyn-based research and advocacy group Global Americans welcomes the new round of U.S.-Cuba regulatory changes announced by the Departments of Commerce and Treasury today. We have worked on and supported decriminalizing the use of American dollars in legal transactions done by third parties with Cuba, and are pleased that this was included in the new round of reforms before the President travels to Havana. In private roundtable discussions held with financial service industry representatives and legal experts in New York and Washington, DC this issue came up repeatedly as one of the main obstacles to improving legitimate commercial and financial relations between Cuba and the rest of the world and U.S. relations.
We also hope that President Obama, while in Havana, takes the opportunity to extensively to meet with human rights organizations and dissidents and openly address issues of human rights and the limits to political space in Cuba. The White House policy of rapprochement and dialogue with the Cuban government and its people will only serve long-term U.S. interests and values if it also remains committed to promoting greater respect for civil and political rights in Cuba. For more on our position on these issues please visit this link: http://globalamericans.org/2016/03/obama-and-cuba-should-he-stay-or-should-he-go/
Global Americans is a public nonprofit under U.S. IRS law, focusing on conducting research and advocacy on issues of human rights and foreign policy and social inclusion. It maintains a news and opinion website, www.LatinAmericaGoesGlobal.org, with regular contributors from academia, advocacy organizations and think tanks.
For more information please contact:
Amy Williams, (914) 329-5856
Managing Director, Global Americans
Editor, www.LatinAmericaGoesGlobal.org
