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handle is hein.crs/goveedl0001 and id is 1 raw text is: Updated July 22, 2021 Cuba: U.S. Policy Overview Cuban Political and Economic Developments Cuba remains a one-party authoritarian state with a government that has sharply restricted freedoms of expression, association, assembly, and other basic human rights since the early years of the 1959 Cuban revolution. Current President Miguel Dfaz-Canel succeeded Radl Castro in 2018. In April 2021, Dfaz-Canel also succeeded Castro as head of the Cuban CommunistParty (PCC) at its eighth party congress. The departure of Castro and other older leaders fromthe PCC's Politburo reflects the generational change in Cuban leadership that began several years ago. While in power (2006-2018), Rail Castro began to move Cuba toward a more mixed economy with a strongerprivate sector, buthis government's slow, gradualist approach did not produce major improvements. Cuba adopted a new constitution in 2019 that introduced some reforms but maintained the state's dominance over the economy and the PCC's predominant politicalrole. The Cuban economy is being hard-hit by the economic shutdown associated with the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic; Venezuela's economic crisis, which has reduced Venezuelan financial support; and U.S. economic sanctions. The Cuban government reports the economy contracted 11% in 2020, and the Economist Intelligence Unit projects 2.2% growth in 2021. In January 2021, Cuba eliminated its dual currency system; the long- debated reformhas spurred inflation, but economists maintain it should boost productivity in the long term. Cuba's public health response to the pandemic initially kept cases and deaths low, but both increasedin late 2020 and have surged in 2021. As of July 21, 2021, the country reported 2,072 deaths, with a mortality rate of almost 18 per 100,000 people, according to Johns Hopkins University. Cuba has developed two vaccines and, as of July 21, 2021, had fully vaccinated 19% of its population, far from its goal of having 70% of the population vaccinated by August. Beginning in November 2020, the government cracked down strongly on the San Isidro Movement (MSI), a civil society group opposed torestrictions on artistic expression. Motivated by the repressionof the MSI, in February 2021, a group of well-known Cuban hip-hop recording artists released a song and music video, Patria y Vida, critical of the government that became an instant hit. On July 11, 2021, widespread anti-government demonstrations broke outin Havana and in cities and towns throughout the country, with thousands of Cubans protesting shortages of food and medicine, daily blackouts, and slow progress on COVID-19 vaccinations and chanting freedom, a reference to the country's authoritarian system The governmentresponded with harsh meas ures, including widespread detentions ofhundreds ofprotesters, activists, andjournalists, according to Cuban human rights groups. The government blocked access to socialmedia and mess agingplatforms that hadbeen instrumental in bringing Cubans to the streets. Prior to the protest, as of July 1, 2021, the human rights group Cuban Prisoners Defenders reported 150 politicalprisoners (with 41 under conditionalrelease). U.S. Policy Since the early 1960s, when the United States imposed a trade embargo on Cuba, the centerpiece of U.S. policy toward Cuba has consisted of economic sanctions aimed at isolating the Cuban government. In late 2014, the Obama Administration initiateda policy shift away fromsanctions and toward engagement and the normalization ofrelations. Changes included the rescission of Cuba's designation as a state sponsor of international terrorism(May 2015); the restorationof diplomatic relations (July 2015); and an easing of restrictions on travel, remittances, trade, telecommunications, and banking and financial services (2015-2016). The restoration ofrelations led to increased government-to-government engagement, with over 20 bilateral agreements and numerous dialogues. President Trump unveiled his Administration's Cuba policy in 2017, issuing a national security presidential memorandumthat introduced new sanctions, including restrictions ontransactions with companies controlled by the Cuban military. By 2019, the Trump Adminis tration had largely abandoned engagement and significantly increased sanctions to pressure Cuba onhuman rights and for its support of the Venezuelan government of Nicolas Maduro. The Biden Administration is conducting a review ofpolicy toward Cuba. The White House press secretary s aid on March 9, 2021, that although a Cuba policy shift was not among the President's top priorities, the Administration was committed to making human rights a core pillar ofpolicy and to carefully reviewing policy decisions made in the prior administration, including the decisionto designate Cuba as a state s ponsor of terrorism. Sanctions imposed underthe Trump Administrationremain in place. In May, the State Department renewed Cuba's designation as a country not cooperating fully with U.S. anti-terrorism efforts. In June, it cited Cuba for labor abuses associated with its foreign medical missions and continued to rank Cuba as Tier 3 in its annual Trafficking in Persons report (denoting countries whose governments do not fully comply with the minimum standards for combatting trafficking and are not making significant efforts to do so). After Cuba's July 11 protests, President Biden and other Administration officials expressed solidarity with the protesters and strongly criticized the Cuban government for

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