WASHINGTON (Sputnik) — On July 20, 2015 Cuba and the United States restored diplomatic relations that had been severed since 1961 at the height of Cold War enmities.
"I urge the administration to act expeditiously to take further action, including amending regulations that would allow Cuba to use the US dollar in third-party country transactions, which would greatly facilitate US-Cuban commerce," Leahy stated on Friday.
Leahy called the existing US embargo on Cuba is both "illogical" and "myopic."
The embargo has been "repudiated by a huge majority of the Cuban people, including some of Cuba's most outspoken critics of the government, and it is rejected by a large and increasing majority of Americans, including Cuban-Americans," Leahy added.
President Barack Obama has used his executive authority to remove a number of restrictions by making it easier for US companies to export to Cuba and for tourists from the United States to visit the Caribbean island nation.
However, the congressionally-mandated embargo cannot be fully lifted without action by the US Congress.
