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July 5, 2016
Leading National Latino Coalition Calls for Lifting of Cuban Trade Embargo
Washington, D.C. – In a major indicator that the U.S.-Cuban relationship is changing dramatically, the National Hispanic Leadership Agenda (NHLA), a coalition of 40 of the nation’s preeminent Latino advocacy organizations, called for lifting of the Cuban Trade Embargo. At its June 22nd board meeting, NHLA adopted the following resolution:
“The National Hispanic Leadership Agenda (NHLA) supports the full normalization of relations between the United States and Cuba. We do not support the Cuban Trade Embargo because we recognize that it does not promote mutually beneficial economic, cultural and scientific relations between both countries. We believe this can be best achieved through an active and open engagement between them. The current policies only serve to impede the full human development of the people of Cuba and Americans, including Cuban-Americans. Support for normalization is, also, strong among Americans, the people of Cuba and a majority of Cuban-Americans.”
“Following the resumption of diplomatic relations between the United States and Cuba, removal of our nation’s trade embargo on Cuba is the next logical step, which will provide a path toward greater engagement between our two nations, to the benefit both nation’s peoples and particularly for the much-needed advancement of human rights and economic well-being for the Cuban people,” said Hector Sanchez, NHLA Chair and Executive Director of the Labor Council for Latin American Advancement.
“This is a historic moment for the Latino community,” stated Angelo Falcón, Co-Chair of NHLA’s Cuban Trade Embargo Working Group and President of the National Institute for Latino Policy (NiLP), “The leading mainstream Latino civil rights organizations have historically avoided addressing the issue of U.S.-Cuban relations in deference to the anti-Castro Miami exile community, but this support for the lifting of the embargo marks a major departure from longtime political accommodation.” Falcón went on to point out that “this development reflects a change not only in the Latino community in general, but also within the Cuban-American community, which is undergoing significant generational changes in their politics.”
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