The US applies coercive measures to prevent flights to Cuba

Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez denounced on Saturday that, during 2019 and 2020, the US administration applied 17 coercive measures to prevent Americans and Cubans living in that country from flying to the island.

Through his official Twitter account, he wrote that such provisions prevent contact between families from both nations and restrict their rights.

Rodriguez further indicated that it is impossible to imagine how, by placing such obstacles, the Cuban people are 'helped', in relation to the rhetoric used by the White House to justify its aggression against the neighboring island.

According to the latest report on the damage caused by the US blockade against Cuba, from April 2019 to March 2020, the regulations and provisions issued by Washington reached unprecedented levels of hostility.

Among them is the prohibition of flights from the northern country to all the provinces of the island, with the exception of Jose Marti International Airport in Havana, which has not yet resumed operations due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

The suspension of flights by US airlines to nine Cuban airports was announced on October 25, 2019 and came into effect on December 10 that year.

On January 10, 2020, Washington suspended charter flights between the United States and Cuba, except for those to Havana, and imposed a limit on the number of such flights.

According to the report, the imposition of measures to regulate travel is equivalent to a reduction in the flow of visitors from that country of roughly 420,000 passengers, with the corresponding effect on income.

Several U.S. congressmen, senators and organizations opposed the decision to suspend flights.

In October 2019, Democratic Congresswoman from California, Barbara Lee, criticized the provisions and expressed that the cancellation by U.S. President Donald Trump is another effort to destroy any relationship among countries.

'These backward, isolationist policies will hurt Cubans and Americans alike,' she upheld.

In this 2020, American organizations issued a joint statement condemning the restrictions on charter flights and in favor of passing a travel freedom law.