Affording Congress an Opportunity to Address Family Separation

Affording Congress an Opportunity to Address Family Separation

Issued on: June 20, 2018

By the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America, including the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA), 8 U.S.C. 1101 et seq., it is hereby ordered as follows:

Section 1. Policy. It is the policy of this Administration to rigorously enforce our immigration laws. Under our laws, the only legal way for an alien to enter this country is at a designated port of entry at an appropriate time. When an alien enters or attempts to enter the country anywhere else, that alien has committed at least the crime of improper entry and is subject to a fine or imprisonment under section 1325(a) of title 8, United States Code. This Administration will initiate proceedings to enforce this and other criminal provisions of the INA until and unless Congress directs otherwise. It is also the policy of this Administration to maintain family unity, including by detaining alien families together where appropriate and consistent with law and available resources. It is unfortunate that Congress’s failure to act and court orders have put the Administration in the position of separating alien families to effectively enforce the law.

Sec. 2. Definitions. For purposes of this order, the following definitions apply:

(a) “Alien family” means

(i) any person not a citizen or national of the United States who has not been admitted into, or is not authorized to enter or remain in, the United States, who entered this country with an alien child or alien children at or between designated ports of entry and who was detained; and

(ii) that person’s alien child or alien children.

(b) “Alien child” means any person not a citizen or national of the United States who

(i) has not been admitted into, or is not authorized to enter or remain in, the United States;

(ii) is under the age of 18; and

(iii) has a legal parent-child relationship to an alien who entered the United States with the alien child at or between designated ports of entry and who was detained.

Sec. 3. Temporary Detention Policy for Families Entering this Country Illegally. (a) The Secretary of Homeland Security (Secretary), shall, to the extent permitted by law and subject to the availability of appropriations, maintain custody of alien families during the pendency of any criminal improper entry or immigration proceedings involving their members.

(b) The Secretary shall not, however, detain an alien family together when there is a concern that detention of an alien child with the child’s alien parent would pose a risk to the child’s welfare.

(c) The Secretary of Defense shall take all legally available measures to provide to the Secretary, upon request, any existing facilities available for the housing and care of alien families, and shall construct such facilities if necessary and consistent with law. The Secretary, to the extent permitted by law, shall be responsible for reimbursement for the use of these facilities.

(d) Heads of executive departments and agencies shall, to the extent consistent with law, make available to the Secretary, for the housing and care of alien families pending court proceedings for improper entry, any facilities that are appropriate for such purposes. The Secretary, to the extent permitted by law, shall be responsible for reimbursement for the use of these facilities.

(e) The Attorney General shall promptly file a request with the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California to modify the Settlement Agreement in Flores v. Sessions, CV 85-4544 (“Flores settlement”), in a manner that would permit the Secretary, under present resource constraints, to detain alien families together throughout the pendency of criminal proceedings for improper entry or any removal or other immigration proceedings.

Sec. 4. Prioritization of Immigration Proceedings Involving Alien Families. The Attorney General shall, to the extent practicable, prioritize the adjudication of cases involving detained families.

Sec. 5. General Provisions. (a) Nothing in this order shall be construed to impair or otherwise affect:

(i) the authority granted by law to an executive department or agency, or the head thereof; or

(ii) the functions of the Director of the Office of Management and Budget relating to budgetary, administrative, or legislative proposals.

(b) This order shall be implemented in a manner consistent with applicable law and subject to the availability of appropriations.

(c) This order is not intended to, and does not, create any right or benefit, substantive or procedural, enforceable at law or in equity by any party against the United States, its departments, agencies, or entities, its officers, employees, or agents, or any other person.

DONALD J. TRUMP

THE WHITE HOUSE,

June 20, 2018.

(The White House's website)

Mal negocio (por Manuel Vázquez Portal)

Es mejor un mal negocio que una buena bronca. Decía mi abuelo. Pero, afirmaba a renglón seguido, hay que mostrar los músculos. Nadie negocia con los débiles, concluía. Imaginen esto a nivel de “músculos atómicos”.

Cuando dos partes se sientan a negociar es porque se han probado una a la otra su imbatibilidad, y no desean llegar a la eternización de la contienda o al exterminio; ello, sin tener en cuenta, las consecuencias para terceros, los cuales podrían resultar solo daños colaterales.

En toda negociación hay, siempre, intereses propios y aliados interesados. Los intereses propios, priman; los aliados interesados, pueden sacrificarse. De tal sacrificio devienen resquemores contra la negociación y tienden a descalificarla pero eso forma parte del entramado de los acuerdos.

Muchas veces, y ha ocurrido innumerables veces en la historia, un General se ve obligado a sacrificar a un batallón para salvar a todo el ejército, y con ello se granjea vituperios y halagos a la vez. Imaginen esto, otra vez, a nivel nuclear, donde el batallón es un pobre país y el ejército un planeta. Suena cruel pero la realidad se impone.

Pongo un ejemplo que marcó para siempre mi niñez. Yo tenía solo 11 años y, al otro día del relámpago atómico, pude haber amanecido calcinado, como muchos niños de todo el planeta.

Era octubre de 1962. Sí. Exactamente. La Crisis de los Misiles.

John F. Kennedy, en la esquina azul. Nikita Kruschov, en la esquina roja. En la gradería, los aliados interesados, de ambas esquinas.

Los de la esquina roja, encabezados por un loco feroz, enardecido en su delirio, agitaban banderitas, vociferaban obscenidades, mientras azuzaban, enceguecidos, a la muerte, sin saber que era al exterminio a lo que incitaban.

Los de la esquina azul, más informados, comedidos y despiertos, buscaban refugios y oraban por que el relámpago no los alcanzara.

La pelea fue “tabla”. Nikita Kruschov le puso camisa de fuerza al loco feroz. John F. Kennedy prometió no “cuquear” al loco feroz. Los púgiles se dieron la mano. No hubo firmas. Fue un acuerdo de la buena fe, la sensatez y la esperanza.

Los fanes de ambos bando, enfrascados aún en discusiones bizantinas, no se han puesto de acuerdo sobre quién perdió o quien ganó. Pero, a aquellos boxeadores debemos desde entonces los 56 años que hemos sobrevivido.

¿Hizo Kennedy un mal negocio con Kruschov? ¿Es verdad que: Nikita, mariquita/ lo que se da no se quita?

Aún estamos vivos y hemos llegado a esta semana histórica en la que nos preguntamos, ¿hizo Donald Trump un mal negocio? ¿Se acoquinó Kim Jong-Un? ¿Lo hizo Kennedy porque era demócrata? ¿Lo hizo Trump porque es republicano?

Que gracias a Kennedy / Kruschov los cubanos hemos padecido una dictadura de 59 años. Que gracias a Trump / Jong-Un los norcoreanos podrían seguir bajo el azote de una tiranía. Cubanos y norcoreanos somos aliados interesado, y por tanto, sacrificables en la negociación, en la que, siempre, los intereses propios priman.

Que es cruel. Sí. La realidad se impone. Pero mañana mi nieta Salma Lareu Vázquez y mi sobrino Thiago Férnandez Guillarón, volverán a corretear detrás de una mariposa y yo podré darle otro beso a Yolanda cuando vuelva fatigada del trabajo y me cuente que las Damas de Blanco, organización que ella fundó en Cuba, siguen batallando contra la dictadura.

Joint Statement of Donald J. Trump and Kim Jong Un

Joint Statement of President Donald J. Trump of the United States of America and Chairman Kim Jong Un of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea at the Singapore Summit

President Donald J. Trump of the United States of America and Chairman Kim Jong Un of the State Affairs Commission of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) held a first, historic summit in Singapore on June 12, 2018.

President Trump and Chairman Kim Jong Un conducted a comprehensive, in-depth, and sincere exchange of opinions on the issues related to the establishment of new U.S.–DPRK relations and the building of a lasting and robust peace regime on the Korean Peninsula. President Trump committed to provide security guarantees to the DPRK, and Chairman Kim Jong Un reaffirmed his firm and unwavering commitment to complete denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula.

Convinced that the establishment of new U.S.–DPRK relations will contribute to the peace and prosperity of the Korean Peninsula and of the world, and recognizing that mutual confidence building can promote the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula, President Trump and Chairman Kim Jong Un state the following:

1. The United States and the DPRK commit to establish new U.S.–DPRK relations in accordance with the desire of the peoples of the two countries for peace and prosperity.

2. The United States and the DPRK will join their efforts to build a lasting and stable peace regime on the Korean Peninsula.

3. Reaffirming the April 27, 2018 Panmunjom Declaration, the DPRK commits to work toward complete denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula.

4. The United States and the DPRK commit to recovering POW/MIA remains, including the immediate repatriation of those already identified.

Having acknowledged that the U.S.–DPRK summit—the first in history—was an epochal event of great significance in overcoming decades of tensions and hostilities between the two countries and for the opening up of a new future, President Trump and Chairman Kim Jong Un commit to implement the stipulations in this joint statement fully and expeditiously. The United States and the DPRK commit to hold follow-on negotiations, led by the U.S. Secretary of State, Mike Pompeo, and a relevant high-level DPRK official, at the earliest possible date, to implement the outcomes of the U.S.–DPRK summit.

President Donald J. Trump of the United States of America and Chairman Kim Jong Un of the State Affairs Commission of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea have committed to cooperate for the development of new U.S.–DPRK relations and for the promotion of peace, prosperity, and security of the Korean Peninsula and of the world.

DONALD J. TRUMP

President of the United States of America

KIM JONG UN

Chairman of the State Affairs Commission of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea

June 12, 2018

Sentosa Island

Singapore

(The White House's website)

(Hialeah) Remarks by President Trump at the Tax Cuts

Read full text at the White House's website

Trump names Philip Goldberg to head Cuban embassy

HAVANA (Reuters) - The Trump administration has named career diplomat Philip Goldberg to head the all-but-abandoned U.S. embassy in Havana, according to three sources familiar with the matter, at a time of heightened tensions between the United States and Cuba.

Goldberg has lengthy experience in a number of countries, and was described by a U.S. congressional aide on Monday as “career and the best of the best”.

But his appointment may ruffle feathers in Havana. He was expelled from Cuba’s socialist ally Bolivia in 2008 for what President Evo Morales claimed was fomenting social unrest.

The appointment has not been publicly announced.

If approved by Cuba, Goldberg will arrive at a low moment in bilateral relations. (read full text)

Ambassador Nikki Haley:"What the General Assembly is doing today – what it does every year at this time – is political theatre"

Remarks at a UN General Assembly Meeting on Cuba

Ambassador Nikki Haley

U.S. Permanent Representative to the United Nations

U.S. Mission to the United Nations

New York City

November 1, 2017

...

For over 55 years, the Cuban regime has used this debate in the United Nations General Assembly as a shiny object to distract the world’s attention from the destruction it has inflicted on its own people and on others in the Western Hemisphere.

Even during the Cuban missile crisis, when the Castro dictatorship allowed the Soviet Union to secretly install nuclear missiles in Cuba, the Cuban regime and its Soviet allies claimed that the real threat to peace wasn’t the missiles aimed at America. The real threat, they said, was the United States’ discovery of these missiles. At the time, the U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations, Adlai Stevenson, identified the Cuban regime’s habit of pointing fingers anywhere but at itself. He said, “This is the first time…I have ever heard it said that the crime is not the burglar but the discovery of the burglar – and that the threat is not the clandestine missiles in Cuba but their discovery and the limited measures taken to quarantine further infection.”

Today, the crime is the Cuban government’s continued repression of its people and failure to meet even the minimum requirements of a free and just society. Our response has been to stand with the Cuban people and their right to determine their own future. For this, each year, this Assembly’s time is wasted considering this resolution. And the United States is subjected to all manner of ridiculous claims – anything to deflect attention from the regime that is actually responsible for the suffering of the Cuban people. But the United States will not be distracted. We will not lose sight of what stands between the Cuban people and the free and democratic future that is their right.

For that reason, and for the 25th time in 26 years, the United States will vote against this resolution.

One year ago, the United States abstained when voting on the same resolution. The reason given was that the continuation of the embargo was not isolating Cuba but was in fact isolating the United States. It is true that we had been left nearly alone in opposition to this annual resolution. No doubt there will be some here who do not understand how we can take such opposite positions, separated by just 12 months. They will wonder how we could passively accept this resolution last year and energetically oppose it this year.

To those who are confused as to where the United States stands, let me be clear: as is their right under our constitution, the American people have spoken. They have chosen a new president, and he has chosen a new ambassador to the United Nations.

As long as the Cuban people continue to be deprived of their human rights and fundamental freedoms – as long as the proceeds from trade with Cuba go to prop up the dictatorial regime responsible for denying those rights – the United States does not fear isolation in this chamber or anywhere else. Our principles are not up for a vote. They are enshrined in our Constitution. They also happen to be enshrined in the Charter of the United Nations. As long as we are members of the United Nations, we will stand for respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms that the Member States of this body have pledged to protect, even if we have to stand alone.

The resolution before us aims to end the United States’ “economic, commercial, and financial embargo” against Cuba. But let’s be honest about what we really see going on here. This assembly does not have the power to end the U.S. embargo. It is based in U.S. law, which only the United States Congress can change. No, what the General Assembly is doing today – what it does every year at this time – is political theatre.

The Cuban regime is sending the warped message to the world that the sad state of its economy, the oppression of its people, and the export of its destructive ideology is not its fault. (read full text)

(U. S. Department of State) "The decision on expulsions was taken due to Cuba’s inability to protect our diplomats in Havana"

Background Briefing: State Department Official on Cuba

Special Briefing

State Department Official

Via Teleconference

October 3, 2017

This morning, the Department of State informed the Government of Cuba it was ordering the departure of 15 of its officials from its embassy in Washington, D.C. This move does not signal a change of policy or determination of responsibility for the attacks on U.S. Government personnel in Cuba. We are maintaining diplomatic relations with Havana. The decision on expulsions was taken due to Cuba’s inability to protect our diplomats in Havana, as well as to ensure equity in the impact on our respective operations.

As you know, on September 29th, the department ordered the departure of nonemergency personnel assigned to the U.S. embassy in Havana, as well as all family members. Investigations into the attacks are ongoing, as investigators have been unable to determine who or what is causing these attacks.

Regarding the attacks, there are now 22 persons medically confirmed to have experienced health effects due to the attacks on diplomatic personnel in Havana. This information was confirmed yesterday after the decision-making process for the expulsions was well underway. The Cuban Government has told us it will continue its investigation into these attacks, and we will continue to cooperate that – with them in this effort. We will also continue our own investigations into these attacks. (Read full text at U.S. Department of State's website)

Actions Taken in Response to Attacks on U.S. Government Personnel in Cuba

Remarks

Rex W. Tillerson

Secretary of State

Washington, DC

September 29, 2017

Over the past several months, 21 U.S. Embassy employees have suffered a variety of injuries from attacks of an unknown nature. The affected individuals have exhibited a range of physical symptoms, including ear complaints, hearing loss, dizziness, headache, fatigue, cognitive issues, and difficulty sleeping. Investigators have been unable to determine who is responsible or what is causing these attacks.

On September 29, the Department ordered the departure of non-emergency personnel assigned to the U.S. Embassy in Havana, as well as all family members. Until the Government of Cuba can ensure the safety of our diplomats in Cuba, our Embassy will be reduced to emergency personnel in order to minimize the number of diplomats at risk of exposure to harm.

In conjunction with the ordered departure of our diplomatic personnel, the Department has issued a Travel Warning advising U.S. citizens to avoid travel to Cuba and informing them of our decision to draw down our diplomatic staff. We have no reports that private U.S. citizens have been affected, but the attacks are known to have occurred in U.S. diplomatic residences and hotels frequented by U.S. citizens. The Department does not have definitive answers on the cause or source of the attacks and is unable to recommend a means to mitigate exposure.

The decision to reduce our diplomatic presence in Havana was made to ensure the safety of our personnel. We maintain diplomatic relations with Cuba, and our work in Cuba continues to be guided by the national security and foreign policy interests of the United States. Cuba has told us it will continue to investigate these attacks and we will continue to cooperate with them in this effort.

The health, safety, and well-being of our Embassy community is our greatest concern. We will continue to aggressively investigate these attacks until the matter is resolved.(U.S. Department of State's website)

Mike Pence: "Cuba sits on the Human Rights Council, an oppressive regime that has repressed its people"

The United Nations is bound by its charter to foster “International cooperation in promoting and encouraging respect for human rights and for fundamental freedoms for all.”

That was the purpose under which the U.N. Human Rights Council was formed. But the truth is, the Human Rights Council doesn’t deserve its name.

As we look at the membership of the council today, we see nations that betray these timeless principles upon which this institution was founded. Today, the United Nations Human Rights Council actually attracts and welcomes many of the worst human rights violators in the world. A clear majority of the Human Rights Council’s members fail to meet even the most basic human rights standards.

Cuba sits on the Human Rights Council, an oppressive regime that has repressed its people and jailed political opponents for more than half a century.

Venezuela sits on the Human Rights Council, a dictatorship that undermines democracy at every turn, imprisons political opponents, and as we speak is advancing policies that worsen deprivation and poverty that’s costing the lives of innocent men, women, and children.

This body must reform the Human Rights Council’s membership and its operation.(Read full text of Remarks by the Vice President to the UN Security Council)

Mons. Cantú: "Human rights will be strengthened through more engagement between the Cuban and American people, not less"

Statement on Cuba Policy Changes by Bishop Oscar Cantú of Las Cruces, Chairman of the USCCB Committee on International Justice and Peace. June 19, 2017.

On the eve of my pastoral visit to Cuba at the invitation of the Cuban bishops, I was saddened to learn that President Trump scaled-back our country’s bilateral engagement with the island nation. The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, in solidarity with the bishops of Cuba and the Holy See, has long held that human rights and religious freedom will be strengthened through more engagement between the Cuban and American people, not less. For decades, we have called for the U.S. travel ban and embargo against Cuba to be lifted.

In my capacity as international chairman, I urge that as the implementing regulations are drafted the President consider the ramifications for many ordinary Cubans who have taken advantage of new opportunities to support their families. The President is correct; serious human rights concerns persist. The Cuban government must be urged to respect religious freedoms and to extend greater social, political and economic rights to all Cubans. The fruits of investment in Cuba should benefit individuals and families, and not the security forces.

Pope Francis helped our nations to come together in dialogue. It is important to continue to promote dialogue and encounter between our neighboring nations and peoples.

President Trump: "Communism has destroyed every single nation where it has ever been tried"

Last year, I promised to be a voice against repression in our region -- remember, tremendous oppression -- and a voice for the freedom of the Cuban people. You heard that pledge. You exercised the right you have to vote. You went out and you voted. And here I am like I promised -- like I promised. 

I promised you -- I keep my promises. Sometimes in politics, they take a little bit longer, but we get there. We get there. Don't we get there? You better believe it, Mike. We get there. (Laughter.) Thank you. Thank you. No, we keep our promise.

And now that I am your President, America will expose the crimes of the Castro regime and stand with the Cuban people in their struggle for freedom. Because we know it is best for America to have freedom in our hemisphere, whether in Cuba or Venezuela, and to have a future where the people of each country can live out their own dreams. 

For nearly six decades, the Cuban people have suffered under communist domination. To this day, Cuba is ruled by the same people who killed tens of thousands of their own citizens, who sought to spread their repressive and failed ideology throughout our hemisphere, and who once tried to host enemy nuclear weapons 90 miles from our shores.

The Castro regime has shipped arms to North Korea and fueled chaos in Venezuela. While imprisoning innocents, it has harbored cop killers, hijackers, and terrorists. It has supported human trafficking, forced labor, and exploitation all around the globe. This is the simple truth of the Castro regime. 

My administration will not hide from it, excuse it, or glamorize it. And we will never, ever be blind to it. We know what's going on and we remember what happened. (Read full text of Remarks by President Trump on the Policy of the United States Towards Cuba at The White House's website)

(The White House) Fact Sheet on Cuba Policy

The White House

Office of the Press Secretary

June 16, 2017

Fact Sheet on Cuba Policy

President Donald J. Trump is changing the policy of the United States toward Cuba to achieve four objectives:

1. Enhance compliance with United States law—in particular the provisions that govern the embargo of Cuba and the ban on tourism;
2. Hold the Cuban regime accountable for oppression and human rights abuses ignored under the Obama policy;
3. Further the national security and foreign policy interests of the United States and those of the Cuban people; and
4. Lay the groundwork for empowering the Cuban people to develop greater economic and political liberty.

Summary of Key Policy Changes:

• The new policy channels economic activities away from the Cuban military monopoly, Grupo de Administración Empresarial (GAESA), including most travel-related transactions, while allowing American individuals and entities to develop economic ties to the private, small business sector in Cuba. The new policy makes clear that the primary obstacle to the Cuban people’s prosperity and economic freedom is the Cuban military’s practice of controlling virtually every profitable sector of the economy. President Trump’s policy changes will encourage American commerce with free Cuban businesses and pressure the Cuban government to allow the Cuban people to expand the private sector.
• The policy enhances travel restrictions to better enforce the statutory ban on United States tourism to Cuba. Among other changes, travel for non-academic educational purposes will be limited to group travel. The self-directed, individual travel permitted by the Obama administration will be prohibited. Cuban-Americans will be able to continue to visit their family in Cuba and send them remittances.
• The policy reaffirms the United States statutory embargo of Cuba and opposes calls in the United Nations and other international forums for its termination. The policy also mandates regular reporting on Cuba’s progress—if any—toward greater political and economic freedom.
• The policy clarifies that any further improvements in the United States-Cuba relationship will depend entirely on the Cuban government’s willingness to improve the lives of the Cuban people, including through promoting the rule of law, respecting human rights, and taking concrete steps to foster political and economic freedoms.
• The policy memorandum directs the Treasury and Commerce Departments to begin the process of issuing new regulations within 30 days. The policy changes will not take effect until those Departments have finalized their new regulations, a process that may take several months. The Treasury Department has issued Q&As that provide additional detail on the impact of the policy changes on American travelers and businesses.

Reacción del régimen de La Habana

Declaración del Gobierno Revolucionario

El 16 de junio de 2017, el presidente de los Estados Unidos, Donald Trump, en un discurso cargado de una retórica hostil, que rememoró los tiempos de la confrontación abierta con nuestro país, pronunciado en un teatro de Miami, anunció la política de su gobierno hacia Cuba que revierte avances alcanzados en los dos últimos años, después que el 17 de diciembre de 2014 los presidentes Raúl Castro Ruz y Barack Obama dieran a conocer la decisión de restablecer las relaciones diplomáticas e iniciar un proceso hacia la normalización de los vínculos bilaterales.

En lo que constituye un retroceso en las relaciones entre los dos países, Trump pronunció un discurso y firmó en el propio acto una directiva de política denominada “Memorando Presidencial de Seguridad Nacional sobre el Fortalecimiento de la Política de los Estados Unidos hacia Cuba” disponiendo la eliminación de los intercambios educacionales “pueblo a pueblo” a título individual y una mayor fiscalización de los viajeros estadounidenses a Cuba, así como la prohibición de las transacciones económicas, comerciales y financieras de compañías norteamericanas con empresas cubanas vinculadas con las Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias y los servicios de inteligencia y seguridad, todo ello con el pretendido objetivo de privarnos de ingresos. El mandatario estadounidense justificó esta política con supuestas preocupaciones sobre la situación de los derechos humanos en Cuba y la necesidad de aplicar rigurosamente las leyes del bloqueo, condicionando su levantamiento, así como cualquier mejoría en las relaciones bilaterales, a que nuestro país realice cambios inherentes a su ordenamiento constitucional.

Trump derogó asimismo la Directiva Presidencial de Política “Normalización de las relaciones entre los Estados Unidos y Cuba”, emitida por el presidente Obama el 14 de octubre de 2016, la cual aunque no ocultaba el carácter injerencista de la política estadounidense, ni el objetivo de hacer avanzar sus intereses en la consecución de cambios en el orden económico, político y social de nuestro país, había reconocido la independencia, la soberanía y la autodeterminación de Cuba y al gobierno cubano como un interlocutor legítimo e igual, así como los beneficios que reportaría a ambos países y pueblos una relación de convivencia civilizada dentro de las grandes diferencias que existen entre los dos gobiernos. También admitía que el bloqueo era una política obsoleta y que debía ser eliminado.

Nuevamente el Gobierno de los Estados Unidos recurre a métodos coercitivos del pasado, al adoptar medidas de recrudecimiento del bloqueo, en vigor desde febrero de 1962, que no solo provoca daños y privaciones al pueblo cubano y constituye un innegable obstáculo al desarrollo de nuestra economía, sino que afecta también la soberanía y los intereses de otros países, concitando el rechazo internacional.

Las medidas anunciadas imponen trabas adicionales a las muy restringidas oportunidades que el sector empresarial estadounidense tenía para comerciar e invertir en Cuba. (Leer  texto completo en Cubadebate)

Card. Jaime Ortega: En Cuba "no hay, creo yo, ninguna tendencia a la dinastía” (Video completo)

 
¿Qué cambios cabe esperar en Cuba?

La gente quiere un cambio económico porque es lo que se ha empezado a dar. Quiere que avance ese cambio. Yo creo que los cambios que son posibles en Cuba son económicos, en el sentido de un desarrollo que cree bienestar. El número de personas que trabajan fuera del ámbito estatal supera el medio millón. Eso da una configuración de país muy distinta de la que tenía hace 10 años.

Admite que muchos funcionarios torpedean la apertura socioeconómica con una mentalidad obsoleta. “Es el acomodo de muchos a una realidad burocrática. No quieren cambios”. El cardenal lamenta que la economía nacional y el mundo de los negocios estén sufriendo la lenta entrada inversión extranjera, que atribuye a la maraña de trabas, a la doble moneda y a la inseguridad jurídica generada por la impericia y desconocimiento de quienes deben interpretar y aplicar la Ley de Inversiones, confusa en varios de sus apartados.

La primera pregunta de la prensa, por escrito, al término del acto de Nueva Economía Fórum fue directa: ¿Se arrepiente, mirando atrás, del tibio papel de la Iglesia católica cubana en la defensa de los derechos humanos y libertades en la mayor parte de la dictadura castrista quitando estos 10 últimos años?, inquirió una periodista de la SER. ¿Según la iglesia católica, cuantos políticos quedan hoy en Cuba?. “No voy a responder a esta pregunta por qué no entra en este ámbito en que estamos ahora. No soy el hombre político que debe hacer juicios”. (Leer texto completo en El País)

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Trump: "Today, the world marks the passing of a brutal dictator"

President-Elect Donald J. Trump Statement on the Passing of Fidel Castro

November 26, 2016

"Today, the world marks the passing of a brutal dictator who oppressed his own people for nearly six decades. Fidel Castro’s legacy is one of firing squads, theft, unimaginable suffering, poverty and the denial of fundamental human rights.

"While Cuba remains a totalitarian island, it is my hope that today marks a move away from the horrors endured for too long, and toward a future in which the wonderful Cuban people finally live in the freedom they so richly deserve.

"Though the tragedies, deaths and pain caused by Fidel Castro cannot be erased, our administration will do all it can to ensure the Cuban people can finally begin their journey toward prosperity and liberty. I join the many Cuban Americans who supported me so greatly in the presidential campaign, including the Brigade 2506 Veterans Association that endorsed me, with the hope of one day soon seeing a free Cuba."