In reaction to President Trump’s reversal of the US opening toward Cuba announced today, Paul O’Brien, Vice President for Policy and Campaigns at Oxfam America, made the following statement:
“Today’s rollback of US policy, which will severely limit US travel and trade with Cuba, is an extremely disappointing and detrimental reversal of progress made in the last two years to restore diplomatic relations and open opportunities for economic and social engagement between the citizens of Cuba and the United States. It is also a worrying example of President Trump's growing policy of US isolationism more generally.
“Now is the time to finally end the US embargo against Cuba, not to return to the failed closed-door policies of the past. Polls continue to show that the US public supports further US diplomatic opening and an end to the embargo. By looking to the past, President Trump will only further isolate the United States from the stronger inter-American relations that would benefit the entire population of our shared continent.”
Jérôme Fauré, Oxfam’s Cuba Country Director, added:
“A return of the decades-long failed US policies toward Cuba is the wrong way to go in order to support constructive dialogue that engages diverse voices or to further sustainable development and social justice. Such a turn-about of US policy will respond only to the narrow and distorted views of a very small but vocal minority.
“Oxfam has worked in close partnership with communities and organizations in Cuba for 25 years in support of equitable and sustainable development. We have witnessed the resilience of Cuban women and men, as well as their commitment to equitable growth and poverty reduction. And particularly in recent years, Cuban youth have been actively engaged in the transformations underway in Cuba. A return to harmful US policies of the past would only be an obstacle to further transformations in Cuba, as well as an affront to the wellbeing of families on the island.”
