US congressman James McGovern defended on Friday the annulment of the Helms-Burton Act, an initiative in force since 1996 that is committed to a change of political regime in Cuba.
It is not constructive or productive, thus it should be annulled, he stressed in front of both Cuban and foreign journalists shortly after holding a talk with the students at the Higher Institute of International Relations, one of the activities of his four-day visit to the island, where he has previously been in several occasions.
The statements of the Democratic representative for Massachusetts are given in a context marked by the escalation in the anti-Cuban aggressiveness of the current US administration, led by US President Donald Trump, who insists on intensifying the blockade through the total application of the Title III of the Helms-Burton Act, aimed at curbing the foreign investment.
The interest in promoting this act is disappointing, said the congressman, who reiterated his call to lift the economic blockade imposed on Cuba for almost 60 years, along with the travel restrictions to the American citizens.
According to McGovern, most Americans favor the normal diplomatic relations between both countries, a scenario that, he said, is also present at the House of Representatives.
In his opinion, in that instance of the North American Congress, dominated by the democrats, the initiatives aimed at promoting better bilateral ties could be approved, starting from the end of the US blockade to Cuba, and the impossibility of the Americans to make tourism in the largest of the Antilles.
However, he warned that perhaps at the Senate, which is controlled by the Republicans, another scenario could be seen, as Trump will not support such laws.
In any case, the conditions can be created for the future, when those objectives can be reached, he said.
McGovern announced earlier, his commitment to the efforts for Cuba and the United States to have normal diplomatic relations.
That is the will of the majority of the Americans, insisted the Democratic politician, who was received at the Foreign Ministry headquarters by the deputy general director for the United States at the Minrex, Johana Tablada.
As part of his official program on the island, McGovern will attend the opening of the restoration workshop at the Vigia Estate tomorrow, where the American writer and Nobel Prize for Literature, Ernest Hemingway, lived for several years. (http://www.cmhw.cu/en/national/18851-us-congressman-calls-for-the-annulment-of-the-helms-burton-act)
