Cuba welcomes US gesture but…

Cuba has welcomed the move by the Obama administration to abolish some of the measures contained in a United States decades old trade and economic embargo, but said they were extremely limited and insufficient.



Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriquez Parrilla told the United Nations General Assembly that Washington has not indicated its readiness to put an end to the practice of misappropriation of Cuban funds that remain frozen at American banks.



The Foreign Minister says despite the existence of laws such as the Helms Burton Act, President Obama still has broad executive powers, such as the ones required to grant licenses, by means of which he could modify the implementation of the blockade.



He says Washington could allow Cuba to buy any product containing more than 10 per cent of US components or technology anywhere in the world, regardless of its trademark or country of origin.



The Cuban foreign minister also wants the US Treasury to abstain from persecuting, freezing and confiscating third countries transfers, whether in US dollars or in any other currency, to Cuban nationals or entities.