The Costa Rica News (TCRN) – The White House announced that the President of the United States, Barack Obama, has extended the trade embargo against Cuba for another year.

In a memorandum sent to the Secretary of State, John Kerry, and the Treasury, Jack Lew, Obama announced his decision to take this action against Cuba “in the national interest of the United States.”

The renewal of the Act on Trading with the Enemy, which prohibits American companies to do business with the island, has a routine nature and Obama’s predecessors have also extended it annually.

The law against Trading with the Enemy, which dates from 1917 and was approved in light of American entry into World War I, forbids American companies from trading with hostile countries.

This was the law that was used to enforce the economic embargo against Cuba, but has been expanded and enhanced with other American laws, like Torricelli in 1992, preventing the shipment of food to Cuba with the exception of humanitarian aid or the Helms Burton in 1996.

Obama made the decision to renew sanctions despite appeals by #CubaNow organizations, who consider the embargo an ineffective measure to end the Castro regime and who advocate for the island.

“Instead of helping Cubans to move towards a more open and democratic society, this decision makes it impossible for Americans to support them,” said the chief executive of #CubaNow, Ric Smith, in a statement.

The Costa Rica News (TCRN)

San Jose, Costa Rica