The ranking member of the U.S. Senate Finance Committee, Ron Wyden, D-Oregon, introduced a bill to lift the blockade on Cuba.
"Attempting to isolate Cuba is a failed and outdated strategy that punishes the Cuban people and shuts off U.S. influence and investment that could benefit both U.S. farmers and ranchers and Cuban small businesses," said the lawmaker, who was chairman of the Finance Committee.
The initiative, co-sponsored by fellow Oregon Senator Jeff Merkley, would have to travel too circuitous a path for it to advance in the Republican-controlled upper chamber.
But the proposal shows the interest of members of Congress in achieving a normalization of relations with the neighboring country and a change in Cuba policy.
In February 2021, Wyden also introduced a similar bill, and said that "to continue with that mechanism from the 1960s would be a failure".
He added that the U.S. Congress had an obligation to improve relations between the two countries as quickly as possible.
Donald Trump's first administration (2017-2021) increased "tensions with Cuba during his disastrous term in office, but I am optimistic about President Joe Biden's new diplomatic course, Wyden, who is head of the Senate Finance Committee, noted at the time."
In 2017, Wyden also introduced another bill for the elimination of the unilateral siege imposed on Cuba more than 60 years ago, and it also failed to prosper.
From the beginning of his first term, in January 2017, Trump began implementing unprecedented measures against Cuba, which stood out for their hostile systematicity, and exceeded 240.
When Biden took office, he promised to review U.S. policy toward Cuba, and "take its own course."
However, the Democrat remained in line with the policy of his predecessor, and on January 14, six days after leaving the White House, he announced a group of measures - albeit late and insufficient - in the right direction.
Biden removed Cuba from the list of state sponsors of terrorism (an act of elementary justice); the waiver for Title III of the Helms-Burton Act, also known as the Liberty Act, for a period of six months; and rescinded National Security Presidential Memorandum 5 of 2017, to eliminate the so-called restricted list.
"The outgoing President's decision on Cuba's exclusion from the one-sided list honors the wisdom and advice provided to him by many world leaders, especially in Latin America, who encouraged him to take these steps," transcended in a statement from White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre.
The U.S.-Cuba Trade Act would repeal key statutes codifying sanctions against Cuba, including the Helms-Burton Act and the Cuban Democracy Act, as well as other provisions affecting trade, investment and travel to Cuba, and would establish normal trade relations with the country.
