Havana, April 20 (RHC)-- Washington’s decision to implement Title III of controversial Helms-Burton Law is “bad news for everyone, especially business-people, as it seeks to asphyxiate the Cuban economy,” said Mexican businessman Jaime Torres Escuen.

In statements to the digital newspaper La Jornada, Torres Escuen, president of the Mexico-Cuba Committee of the Mexican Business Council for Foreign Trade, Investment & Technology (COMCE), said the U.S. measure aims to further tighten Washington’s blockade policy toward Cuba.

He recalled that since the Helms-Burton Law was enacted in 1996, consecutive U.S. administrations had suspended implementation of Title III, due to concerns voiced by U.S. allies regarding the extraterritorial nature of the U.S. law.

According to La Jornada, Mexico’s Secretariat of Foreign Affairs (SRE) said in a statement, released on April 17th, that the government of President Andrés Manuel López Obrador will protect Mexican companies doing or planning to do business with Cuba, which could be affected in any way by the U.S. arbitrary measure.