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Bush Orders Trade Embargo on Cuba
US President George W. Bush on Friday ordered stricter enforcement of a trade embargo against Cuba.
"The sanctions the United States enforces against the Castro regime are not just a policy tool, but a moral statement," Bush said in a statement issued on the seventh anniversary of the sinking of a Cuban tugboat.
Bush said that seven years ago today, a tugboat carrying 72 people off the coast of Cuba was repeatedly rammed by Cuban authorities resulting in 41 deaths. Cuba said it was an accident.
This is the first time for Bush to make the decision since he became the president.
Bush also ordered additional funding for non-governmental organizations to work on "pro-democracy programs" in Cuba.
The United States has kept an economic embargo on Cuba since Castro's 1959 revolution. Former President Bill Clinton suspended the legal provision every six months since the signing of the Helms-Burton Act. The Congress resumed the supply of food and medicine sales last year.
Friday's decision is controversial among U.S. trade partners in Europe and Canada, some of which have heavy investment in Cuba.
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