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Oxfam urges US Congress to lift Cuba embargo

Cubans carry fruit for sale along a street of Havana, on May 25, 2016. ©AFP

Leading poverty charity Oxfam has called on the US Congress to lift the trade embargo on Cuba as the Caribbean island nation has been dealing with economic woes.

Oxfam’s director Winnie Byanyima said the global aid agency planned to formally launch a campaign against the US embargo as part of the strategy of supporting Havana.

“Cuba needs to engage in the global economy and the embargo cuts them out,” Byanyima said.

“We are going to be calling for a lifting of that embargo and normalizing relations sooner rather than later,” she added.

This came after Cuban President Raul Castro told people to prepare for tough times as the country was forced to cut spending and energy supply to be able to deal with a cash crunch and reduced oil assistance from Venezuela, which is also under US sanctions.

In March, US President Barack Obama renewed an executive order that declares Venezuela a threat to the US, extending sanctions against the South American country for one more year.

Venezuela slammed the move decided to downgrade its diplomatic ties with the United States. The country accuses Washington of trying to stoke tensions in an attempt to topple the Caracas government.

The United States broke off diplomatic relations with Cuba in 1961 and placed an official embargo against the country in 1962.

Cuban President Raul Castro gives a speech during the First Annual Session of Cuban Parliament, on July 8, 2016 at Convention Palace of Havana. ©AFP

The two countries became ideological foes soon after the 1959 revolution that brought Fidel Castro to power and their ties remained hostile even after the end of the Cold War.

In 2014, US President Barack Obama announced that the US would start talks with Cuba to normalize diplomatic relations. A year later, Obama and Castro held face-to-face talks in Panama to mark the first sit-down between the leaders of the two countries since 1956.

The two countries have reopened embassies in Washington and Havana, and restored commercial air travel.

The Republican-controlled US Congress has been a major opponent of normalization of ties as well as the embargo lift.

Oxfam is working on certain projects in eastern part of Cuba to tackle draught, empower women in villages and help increase farming output in the region.

Byanyima said people in Cuba have lost “maybe two, three or four generations of agriculture culture, so there is a need to build up again this knowledge amongst families for smallholder farming.”


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