teleSUR
The 54-year old commercial ban on the island will be extended for at least one more year. On Friday, White House officials published a letter from U.S. President Barack Obama extending the commercial blockade on the caribbean nation of Cuba.
In the memorandum directed to U.S. Secretaries of State John Kerry and Secretary of Treasury Jack Lew, Obama approved of extending the 64-year old embargo saying “I believe that the extension of the embargo against Cuba for one year [is] for the national interests of the United States.”
The ban limits U.S. companies from doing business with Cuba, which critics argue is an interventionist measure that has been detrimental to both countries.
Economic sanctions by the United States on Cuba are enforced by several U.S. laws, including the 1992 “Torricelli Act” that banned food shipments to Cuba.
Since 1992, the United Nations General Assembly has passed a resolution opposing the embargo every year. The only two countries to consistently oppose the resolution are the United States and Israel.
