Foreign

Flood Leaves Two Dead, Thousands Displaced in Cuba

By Web News 505

At least two people have died in Cuba’s capital, Havana, after the remnants of Hurricane Agatha brought heavy rain and floods to the Caribbean island.

The Cuban weather service said the downpours would last until Saturday afternoon, bringing more than 20cm (8in) of rain to some places.

Western and central areas of the country, including Havana, are the worst affected.

Hurricane Agatha hit Mexico last Monday, killing nine people.

Nearly 2,000 people have evacuated their homes in Havana, and around 50,000 people in and around the city are without electricity.

Evacuation centres have been prepared to shelter people from the rain, the state-affiliate Cuban News Agency reported.

The storm is the remnant of Hurricane Agatha, which hit Mexico’s west coast last week killing nine people. It was the strongest hurricane ever recorded in the country during the month of May.

The weather system has now moved north-east towards the Gulf of Mexico, and is likely to become the first named tropical storm of the season. It is expected to bring heavy rain to the US state of Florida.

Cuba is no stranger to hurricanes, but climate change has increased the intensity and frequency of the powerful storms.

In 2019, amendments were made to the Cuban constitution which commit the government to confronting climate change, recognising it as a threat to the survival of the human species.

BBC/Simeon Ugbodovon

Foreign

US Agrees to Ease Trump-Era Sanctions on Cuba

By Web News 438

US officials have announced plans to ease tough sanctions imposed on Cuba by former President Donald Trump.

Under new measures approved by the Biden administration, restrictions on family remittances and travel to the island will be eased.

The processing of US visas for Cubans will also be speeded up.

State Department spokesman Ned Price said the move would allow Cuban citizens to pursue a life free from “government oppression”.

The loosening of sanctions will see a cap on family remittances – funds sent by migrants in the US to family members in Cuba – removed. Previously migrants were prevented from sending more than $1,000 (£811) every three months.

Donations to non-family members will also be permitted under the new plans.

But US officials emphasised that they will seek to ensure such payments don’t reach “those who perpetrate human rights abuses” by using civilian “electronic payment processors”.

They also said that no bodies will be removed from the Cuba Restricted List, a State Department register of companies linked to the communist government in Havana with whom US citizens are barred from doing business.

A Biden administration official told CBS News that more charter and commercial flights will be made available to Havana, US consular services on the island will be expanded and family reunification programmes will be relaunched.

After an easing of tensions under former President Barack Obama, Mr Trump announced a range of sanctions on the Cuban government in 2017.

His administration slashed visa processing, restricted remittances and increased hurdles for US citizens seeking to travel to Cuba for any reason other than family visits.

At the time, Mr Trump cited human rights concerns as the reason for rolling back agreements made by the Obama administration and condemned his predecessor for doing a deal with the country’s “brutal” government.

Cuba’s foreign minister welcomed the announcement and said the easing of restrictions marked “a small step in the right direction”.

But Bruno Rodriguez added that the policy does “not modify the embargo” in place since 1962 and argued that “neither the objectives nor the main instruments of the United States’ policy against Cuba, which is a failure, are changing”.

Meanwhile, a senior member of Mr Biden’s Democratic party has condemned the move.

Senator Bob Menendez, chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, denounced the lifting of restrictions, saying that the Cuban regime has continued “its ruthless persecution of countless Cubans from all walks of life”.

In a statement issued on Monday night, Mr Menendez said the easing of travel restrictions “risks sending the wrong message to the wrong people, at the wrong time and for all the wrong reasons”.

“Those who still believe that increasing travel will breed democracy in Cuba are simply in a state of denial. For decades, the world has been travelling to Cuba and nothing has changed,” he added.

Republican Senator Marco Rubio also criticised the policy and said it represented “the first steps back to the failed Obama policies on Cuba”.

BBC/Ugbodovon Simeon