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Limits on Direct Humanitarian Aid & Medical Sales
"...when change comes to the island -- and it
will come..."
Since the Papal visit there have been modifications to the regulations allowing less
restricted humanitarian and medical relief.
The Department of Treasury was, until August of 1994, the only place to which families
could go to send monetary aid to close relatives still living in Cuba. The aid was not to
exceed $300 for every three months. The majority of Cuban could barely meet the most basic
needs with this small sum of money from exiled families and humanitarian packages from
non-profit organizations. Most of these efforts were achieved through unauthorized
channels.
The law for sales of medicines to Cuba was covered in The Cuban Democracy Act of 1992.
The statute regulated the sales of medicines to Cuba. It established that there would be
no restraints on medicines and medical equipment, as long as the items would be used for
their intended purpose, i.e. for the benefit of the Cuban people. The items could not be
used for torture, and they could not be re-exported from Cuba. Currently, no medicines,
either patented in the U.S. or manufactured in the U.S. can be sold into Cuba. This policy
restricts any country from selling US medicines into Cuba.
The Departments of Treasury, Commerce, and State are directed to simplify and oversee
these procedures for medical sales. The new procedures are designed to facilitate more
rapid handling of license requests. The three Departments stated earlier are identified as
points of contact to respond to questions regarding interest in medical sales. Procedures
for seeing inappropriate diversions of medicines and medical equipment will be simplified
and streamlined. For instance, on-site monitoring can be carried out by groups such as
religious institutions, independent non-governmental groups, U.S. and third country
diplomats, international organizations, or representatives of the companies making the
sales.
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