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Cuba to lift penalty on dollar but warns Obama not to meddle

18 March 2016 03:45 (UTC +04:00)

Baku-APA. Cuba’s government said Thursday it plans to do away with a penalty on converting U.S. dollars inside the country, but offered a tough rebuke of President Barack Obama’s plans to use his upcoming visit to promote change on the island, APA reports quoting the Washington Post.

In a stern and lengthy speech in Havana, Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez dismissed Obama’s lofty rhetoric about speaking directly to the Cuban people about their future during his trip, which starts Sunday. Aside from lifting the currency penalty, Rodriguez offered no indication that Cuba would respond to Obama’s recent policy changes with corresponding steps of its own, adding that little can happen until Congress lifts the trade embargo entirely.

“Various U.S. officials have declared in recent hours that the objective of Obama’s measures is empowering the Cuban people. The Cuban people empowered themselves decades ago,” Rodriguez said, referring to the 1959 revolution that put the current Cuban government in power.