U.S. Policy Strangling Cuban Entrepreneurs

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Mr. McGOVERN. Mr. Speaker, last week, I had the privilege of meeting with a delegation of young Cuban entrepreneurs. I was impressed by their vision, dedication, and private-sector experience.

One had founded her business, Beyond Roots, in 2016. It promotes Afro-Cuban culture through education, product marketing, and artistic and other collaborations. Her company has been recognized as a project with significant social impact, and she hopes to generate positive change in people's lives by promoting a closer connection with their roots.

Another founded Wajiros Films in 2017. It is an audiovisual creative group composed of young Cuban artists who want to generate audiovisual projects based on the stories, characters, and visual content that reside outside of Cuba's major cities and prominent cultural industries. They want to create visual arts that show the diversity of Cuba. They believe in the right to dream and the right to fight for your dreams.

I talked with the cofounder and creative director of DADOR, a female- founded fashion brand committed to using the entrepreneurial spirit to make a mark on Cuba's emerging private sector.

I also met with the cofounder and CEO of TostoneT, an information technology infrastructure company. He created his first enterprise in 2012 and, in 2018, expanded his interests to support academic and business groups traveling to Cuba from the U.K. and other European countries.

Mr. Speaker, I could not have asked to meet with a more exciting, innovative, and visionary group of Cuban entrepreneurs. They reinforced what I had learned during my last trip to Cuba in December when I met with several other Cuban entrepreneurs. I came away from my December trip and my conversations with last week's delegation with three main conclusions.

First, it can be time-consuming, even difficult at times, to navigate the Cuban Government's rules and regulations on the private sector. Overall, Cuba is opening more and more space for private-sector development, especially for small and medium-sized entrepreneurs. Cubans, especially young people, are taking advantage of these opportunities to expand existing businesses and create new companies. Innovation and collaboration are happening in every sector.

Second, each of the entrepreneurs who I met appreciates the support and encouragement they have received from the U.S. Embassy. They noted, however, that they no longer need workshops on how to establish a budget, handle payroll, or devise a marketing plan.

Third, the greatest difficulty facing small and medium-sized Cuban entrepreneurs is in the financial sector. They all emphasized how U.S. policies are strangling their ability to get financing, set up bank accounts, and market their products outside of Cuba.

They pleaded for Cuba to be removed from the State Sponsors of Terrorism list so they can open up bank accounts in the U.K. and Europe, where they have clients eager to purchase, market, and use their goods and services.

They talked about how difficult it is to travel to the United States, how difficult it is to go back and forth in order to establish partnerships and other business relations, and how impossible it is to set up bank accounts to sell and market their goods.

Financial barriers that stifle the development and expansion of Cuban entrepreneurs can all be traced, unfortunately, to the United States. It is our policies and our financial restrictions that are hurting the very sector that the U.S. proclaims it most wants to help.

If we really want to support them, we should remove Cuba from the State Sponsors of Terrorism list. There is absolutely no justification at all for them to be on that list. They were put on the list by the Trump administration for purely political purposes. We should also get rid of the financial restrictions imposed by the Trump administration and now maintained by the Biden administration.

Mr. Speaker, it has been over 2 years since President Biden took office. The Cuban people and entrepreneurs should not have to wait any longer for change to happen.

The Biden administration must take a long, hard look in the mirror and recognize that its own policies are causing hardship and suffering in Cuba, including in the private sector.

Cuban entrepreneurs don't need us to lead them by the hand. They are more than capable of setting up companies and following their own dreams. We need to get out of their way.

Mr. Speaker, I once again call on the Biden administration to tear down the financial barriers and restrictions that are strangling Cuban entrepreneurs and stifling their success.

Let us stop being part of the problem and start being part of the solution.

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