PRESIDENT Barack Obama has signed an order
extending for one year the law applied to impose the
U.S. trade blockade of Cuba, despite calls to let it
expire, Reuters reports from Washington, stating
that the president has followed in the footsteps of
his predecessors dating back to the 1970s.
Meanwhile, AFP, quoting the White House, notes
that the so-called Trading with the Enemy Act, in
place since 1917 and which prohibits any commercial
exchange with countries considered a treat,
currently only affects Cuba.
"I have determined that it is in the national
interest of the United States to continue for one
year the exercise of certain authorities under the
Trading with the Enemy Act with respect to Cuba,"
Obama said on Monday.
The law, the oldest in effect in the United
States in relation to trade sanctions, gave rise in
1963 to the commercial and financial blockade of
Cuba. The extension was announced the day before the
opening of the UN General Assembly which, in the
course of 17 consecutive years, has overwhelmingly
voted against a measure that has cost Cuba a loss of
more than $90 billion.
