WASHINGTON (Sputnik) — Upon passing a new amendment to change US policy toward Cuba, Leahy said:
“This is a first step by the Senate to dismantle a failed, discredited and counterproductive policy that in 54 years has failed to achieve any of its objectives.”
Earlier on Thursday, the US Senate Appropriations Committee passed an amendment 18-12 to end travel and commerce restrictions on Americans with respect to Cuba.
Leahy stated the votes in favor of the amendment were not about “the repugnant policies of the Castro regime,” but were about doing away with “unwarranted impediments to travel and commerce imposed on Americans by our own government.”
On Monday, the United States and Cuba re-established diplomatic relations after 54 years. Washington had broken off relations at the height of the Cold War and imposed a trade and travel embargo on Havana.
The warming of relations begun in December 2014 when President Barack Obama announced his administration would seek to normalize ties between the two countries.
The new legislation is the first to be passed by a congressional committee to normalize relations between the United States and Cuba.
