Cuba regrets no change in US trade embargoPresident Barack Obama may have campaigned on a platform of "change," but Cuba's Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez said he is still waiting for a shift in the US embargo embargo (ĕmbär`gō), prohibition by a country of the departure of ships or certain types of goods from its ports. Instances of confining all domestic ships to port are rare, and the Embargo Act of 1807 is the sole example of this in on the island. "The blockade blockade, use of naval forces to cut off maritime communication and supply. Blockades may be used to prevent shipping from reaching enemy ports, or they may serve purposes of coercion. The term is rarely applied to land sieges. policy remains in place. The arrival in power of the new US president has not led in changes in the implementation of the embargo," he said in Havana. Rodriguez was speaking at the unveiling of a new report on the consequences of the embargo, which is due to be presented to the United Nations General Assembly on September 28. As proof of the continuity of US policy towards Cuba, Rodriguez cited Obama's decision Monday to renew the "Trading with the Enemy Act The Trading with the Enemy Act, sometimes abbreviated as TWEA, is a United States federal law, , was enacted in 1917 to restrict trade with countries hostile to the United States. The law gives the President the power to oversee or restrict any and all trade between the U.S. " that provided the original basis for the embargo on Cuba in 1963. The longstanding blockade has gone through different phases of implementation, with sanctions Sanctions is the plural of sanction. Depending on context, a sanction can be either a punishment or a permission. The word is a contronym. Sanctions involving countries: "It's true that the global economic crisis had an impact on our economy, it's true that there are other factors, but I would say that the principal obstacle to Cuba's development is the economic, trade and financial blockade that has been imposed upon us for more than 50 years," Rodriguez said. Cuba estimates that the embargo has cost its economy some 96 billion dollars in the half-century it has been imposed. On April 13, Obama modified the sanctions to authorize To empower another with the legal right to perform an action. The Constitution authorizes Congress to regulate interstate commerce. authorize v. to officially empower someone to act. (See: authority) Cuban-Americans to travel freely to the island, and loosened restrictions on remittances
Remittances are transfers of money by foreign workers to their home countries. and trade involving the telecommunications sector. And a US delegation will begin discussions in Havana on Thursday with the Cuban government on the possibility of restarting postal links between the two countries, State Department spokesman Ian Kelly Ian Kelly was an Irish soccer player who played in the League of Ireland during the 1980s. Kelly played for Bohemians amongst others during his career in the League of Ireland. said Wednesday. Rodriguez said the new measures being taken by the Obama administration were "positive," but added he nonetheless considered them "limited." "It is true that the rhetoric is less aggressive," and the new president "has shown himself to be a man with good intentions, intelligent, and a modern political man," he said. But, he added, "Obama was elected on the basis of change, and when it comes to the embargo on Cuba, there has not been any change." 
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