Menendez denounces loosening of Cuban trade embargo

Sen. Bob Menendez, D-N.J., a top member of the Senate Foreign Affairs Committee and its former chairman, called the move “a contravention of the law.”

Menendez, the son of Cuban immigrants, has long opposed the lifting of sanctions against the Cuban dictatorship, which is accused of human rights violations and other crimes. On Tuesday, the Obama administration moved to make it easier to export American goods to Cuba by lifting financing restrictions on exports to Cuba.

“Today’s action by the administration is a contravention of the law — the will of Congress, and the people who elected us, and a betrayal to those brave Cubans who have raised their voices in support of freedom, only to be silenced by a regime we are now helping,” Menendez said in a statement. “Put simply, exporting to Cuba means exporting to the regime and its state-owned enterprises solely controlled by the Castro family; it will do nothing to empower the Cuban people.”

Menendez said Obama has the power to tighten sanctions but not to lift them.

The Obama administration a year ago began re-establishing ties with Cuba. The United States has lifted some travel and business restrictions and has opened an embassy in Havana.

The loosening of the trade embargo, Menendez said, further hurts the Cuban people who have been forced to live under the dictatorship of the Castro brothers for decades. “It provides their oppressors the resources they need to tighten their grip,” he said.

Despite the administration’s move, the embargo against Cuba is a function of U.S. law, and he only has so much wiggle room to adjust it. The financing restrictions are lifted only for authorized trade with Cuba.

Menendez, a persistent critic of Obama’s foreign policy strategy, last year was forced to step down from his position as ranking member on the Foreign Affairs panel after he was indicted on corruption charges. Menendez said he is innocent of the charges.