U.S. Senate Committee Approves Amendment to End Restrictions on Travel to Cuba
U.S. Senate Committee Approves Amendment to End Restrictions on Travel to Cuba
Created on Friday, 24 July 2015 11:58
HAVANA, Cuba, Jul 23 (acn) The U.S. Senate Appropriations Committee approved on Thursday to put an end to restrictions to travel to Cuba for U.S .citizens, said a spokesperson of the commission.
The approval had 18 votes in favor to 12 against, the Cubasi Web site reported on Thursday.
In the voting, four Republican senators joined fourteen Democrats to pass the measure, with which the initiative will now go to the plenary of the Senate.
The initiative also includes the lifting of the ban preventing any vessel that has carried goods to Cuba to call at U.S. ports in the following six months.
This is the first measure presented in the U.S. Congress in support of the policies of President Barack Obama to reestablish diplomatic relations with Cuba, which took place on Monday and was concreted with the opening of the Cuban embassy in Washington after 54 years of breaking-off.
The Obama administration announced in January a series of measures that relaxed restrictions on travel to Cuba, mainly in order to facilitate telecommunications and financial companies do business on the island. But Congress is the body that must vote to end these restrictions within the legal framework on which the economic blockade against Cuba is based on, something the president has already asked lawmakers to do in accordance with normalization of relations.
More:
http://www.cubanews.ain.cu/world/3428-u-s-senate-committee-approves-amendment-to-end-restrictions-on-travel-to-cuba
LBN:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10141157028
