1.1 	A resolution
1.2 	memorializing the President and Congress to normalize diplomatic and economic 
1.3 	relations with Cuba.
1.4 	WHEREAS, beginning in October 1960, the United States government imposed an economic, 
1.5 	commercial, and financial embargo on Cuba that not only prevents most engagement and trade 
1.6 	with the United States, but also punishes other countries that continue to engage with Cuba; and
1.7 	WHEREAS, the embargo continues to inflict extreme hardship on the Cuban people by 
1.8 	creating shortages of food and medicine, including medical equipment and supplies to address the 
1.9 	COVID-19 pandemic, and severely restricting financial and trade opportunities; and
1.10 	WHEREAS, both the Cuban government and the United Nations have estimated that the 
1.11 	embargo has cost the Cuban economy $130 billion over six decades; and
1.12 	WHEREAS, in December 2014, President Barack Obama and Cuban President RaÃºl Castro 
1.13 	announced that they would begin normalizing relations between the two countries and would 
1.14 	establish diplomatic relations, an agreement that was enthusiastically embraced by the Cuban 
1.15 	people; and
1.16 	WHEREAS, President Obama removed Cuba from the United States list of state sponsors 
1.17 	of terrorism; and
1.18 	WHEREAS, most Americans, including Cuban Americans, oppose the United States embargo 
1.19 	and tens of thousands of United States citizens have visited the island when travel restrictions were 
1.20 	relaxed; and
1.21 	WHEREAS, the Trump administration imposed 243 new sanctions on Cuba, including 
1.22 	restrictions on Cuban Americans to send remittances to families and businesses in Cuba, and 
1.23 	reinstated Cuba to the list of state sponsors of terrorism; and
2.1 	WHEREAS, for the last 29 years, the United Nations General Assembly has overwhelmingly 
2.2 	voted to support the end of the United States embargo against Cuba; and
2.3 	WHEREAS, President Biden has not yet reversed the additional sanctions that former President 
2.4 	Trump imposed on Cuba; NOW THEREFORE,
2.5 	BE IT RESOLVED by the Legislature of the State of Minnesota that it urges the President 
2.6 	and the Congress of the United States to restore diplomatic relations with Cuba, including restoring 
2.7 	the full operations of the United States Embassy in Havana, and to make the well-being of the 
2.8 	Cuban people the centerpiece of United States policies toward Cuba.
2.9 	BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED by the Legislature of the State of Minnesota that it urges the 
2.10 	President and the Congress of the United States to remove Cuba from the United States list of state 
2.11 	sponsors of terrorism and to immediately close the United States military base at Guantanamo Bay 
2.12 	and return the occupied territory in Guantanamo to Cuba.
2.13 	BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED by the Legislature of the State of Minnesota that it urges the 
2.14 	President and the Congress of the United States to immediately reverse all sanctions against Cuba 
2.15 	by the United States and end all aspects of the United States embargo against Cuba, including 
2.16 	restrictions on travel to Cuba by United States citizens and residents, so that the people of Cuba 
2.17 	and the United States can freely travel between the countries.
2.18 	BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Secretary of State of the State of Minnesota is directed 
2.19 	to prepare copies of this memorial and transmit them to the President of the United States, the 
2.20 	President and the Secretary of the United States Senate, the Speaker and the Clerk of the United 
2.21 	States House of Representatives, the chair of the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations, the chair 
2.22 	of the House Committee on Foreign Affairs, and Minnesota's Senators and Representatives in 
2.23 	Congress.