Cuban Negotiator Says Obama’s New Trade Regulations Aren’t Enough

Washington — Cuba’s top negotiator with the United States called President Obama’s latest set of regulatory changes on trade with Cuba a “positive step” toward the lifting the American embargo and improving relations between the two countries, but said they do not go far enough.

The regulatory changes recognize Cuba as a partner and respect its sovereignty, but Josefina Vidal, who heads the U.S. Department at Cuba’s Foreign Ministry, said they don’t hide the fact that the United States seeks to change the economic, political and social systems of Cuba.

“Nor does it hide the intention of continuing to develop in our country interventionist programs that benefit the interests of the United States,” Vidal said.

Friday, the Obama administration announced regulatory changes meant to ease trade, travel and financial restrictions and make it harder for a new administration to reverse them. The changes include eliminating the $100 limit on the value of Cuban rum and cigars that American travelers can bring back from the island.

The new rules also allow online sales of consumer goods, such as toothpaste and televisions, to Cubans without requiring U.S. companies to get a license. But Vidal questioned the financial benefits and said most go to unauthorized transactions.

Pope Canonizes Six Men, One Woman At St. Peter’s Square mass

Rome — ��Pope Francis Sunday canonized six men and a woman, — including a child martyr from Mexico from Argentina — in a mass at St Peter’s Square in Rome.

They all “fought the fight of faith and love,” Francis said Sunday during a mass before tens of thousands of people.

Among the new saints is Jose Sanchez del Rio, a Mexican-born boy who at 14 was tortured and executed in 1928 for refusing to renounce Catholicism under the anti-clerical policies of the Calles government.

Also canonized was the Dominican priest Jose Gabriel del Rosario Brochero, who, according to Vatican Radio, is a favorite of the pope.

Known during his lifetime as the “gaucho priest,” Brochero crossed the mountains of Argentina on a mule, helping country people by building churches, schools, roads and water infrastructure.

The other new saints were two Italians, two French nationals and a Spaniard. The woman is the French mystic Elisabeth Catez, also known as the Elisabeth of the Trinity.

— Wire reports