Cuban president recalls signing of the Helms-Burton Act by the United States​

Havana, March 12 (RHC)-- Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel recalled on Sunday the signing 27 years ago of the Helms-Burton Act, legislation he considered unconstitutional for pretending to treat the Caribbean country as another possession of the United States.

The head of state said in his Twitter account that despite the signing of the Act in 1996 by then U.S. President Bill Clinton (1993-2001), the nation remains sovereign and independent.

That legislation typifies limitations on trade, transactions, travel to and from the national territory, as well as restrictions on the purchase and sale of properties in which Cuba or its natural citizens have an interest.

With its enactment, it eliminated the unilateral possibility of lifting the siege on the island and established that it will remain in force until the existence in Cuba of what Washington calls a transitional government certified by themselves.

The third and fourth sections of the Helms-Burton Act remained inactive until 2019, when President Donald Trump authorized its implementation, in order to make the normalization of relations between Cuba and the United States impossible.