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Trump extends order authorizing detention of ships bound for Cuba for year

The US leader also added that a mass migration from Cuba would endanger United States national security

US President Donald Trump AP Photo/Evan Vucci

US President Donald Trump

© AP Photo/Evan Vucci

WASHINGTON, February 17. /TASS/. US President Donald Trump has extended for another year an order authorizing the detention and inspection of American and foreign vessels bound for Cuba, according to the Federal Register.

"The Cuban government has not demonstrated that it will refrain from the use of excessive force against United States vessels or aircraft that may engage in memorial activities or peaceful protest north of Cuba. Further, the unauthorized entry of any United States-registered vessel into Cuban territorial waters continues to be detrimental to the foreign policy of the United States because such entry could facilitate a mass migration from Cuba," the document says.

"It continues to be United States policy that a mass migration from Cuba would endanger United States national security by posing a disturbance or threatened disturbance of the international relations of the United States."

Trump said he was extending "the national emergency with respect to Cuba and the emergency authority" that would allow the detention of ships coming to the republic.

The order was initially signed in 1996 by President Bill Clinton after Cuba shot down two planes of the Miami-based emigrant organization Brothers to the Rescue.

In 2004, the order prohibited financial and material support to Cuba. The prohibitions were expanded in 2016 and 2018. The order was extended many times.

On January 29, a decree was also signed allowing Washington to impose duties on the goods from the countries that supply oil to Cuba. Under this document, a state of emergency is formally introduced in the United States due to the alleged threat from Cuba.

Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez Parrilla strongly condemned these measures, which threaten the island state with a "total blockade of fuel supplies," "are a violation of all principles of international trade" and create "extreme conditions" for the life of the Cuban people.

Washington said it was cooperating with the Havana on the energy blockade, adding the parties were close to an agreement.

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United States Cuba Donald Trump

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