Title 22Foreign Relations and IntercourseRelease 119-73not60

§6061 Policy Toward Transition Government and Democratically Elected Government in Cuba

Title 22 › Chapter 69A— CUBAN LIBERTY AND DEMOCRATIC SOLIDARITY (LIBERTAD) › Subchapter II— ASSISTANCE TO FREE AND INDEPENDENT CUBA › § 6061

Last updated Apr 5, 2026|Official source

Summary

The United States will support the Cuban people’s right to choose their own government and help them move to a peaceful democracy. The U.S. will encourage Cubans to form a government that reflects their will, recognize that this choice must be free from outside interference, and be ready to give humanitarian, development, and economic help during a difficult transition. Aid may go to a transition government, a democratically elected government, U.S. government groups, or U.S., international, or local NGOs. The U.S. will work with other countries to coordinate help, speed aid delivery once a transition government is in place, avoid favoring any candidate, help prepare the Cuban military for a democratic role, be ready to negotiate about the Guantanamo naval base, consider restoring diplomatic ties and rejoining regional organizations when a democratic government exists, remove the economic embargo when the President finds a transition has begun, help stabilize Cuba’s currency, and pursue trade with a free, democratic, independent Cuba.

Full Legal Text

Title 22, §6061

Foreign Relations and Intercourse — Source: USLM XML via OLRC

The policy of the United States is as follows:
(1)To support the self-determination of the Cuban people.
(2)To recognize that the self-determination of the Cuban people is a sovereign and national right of the citizens of Cuba which must be exercised free of interference by the government of any other country.
(3)To encourage the Cuban people to empower themselves with a government which reflects the self-determination of the Cuban people.
(4)To recognize the potential for a difficult transition from the current regime in Cuba that may result from the initiatives taken by the Cuban people for self-determination in response to the intransigence of the Castro regime in not allowing any substantive political or economic reforms, and to be prepared to provide the Cuban people with humanitarian, developmental, and other economic assistance.
(5)In solidarity with the Cuban people, to provide appropriate forms of assistance—
(A)to a transition government in Cuba;
(B)to facilitate the rapid movement from such a transition government to a democratically elected government in Cuba that results from an expression of the self-determination of the Cuban people; and
(C)to support such a democratically elected government.
(6)Through such assistance, to facilitate a peaceful transition to representative democracy and a market economy in Cuba and to consolidate democracy in Cuba.
(7)To deliver such assistance to the Cuban people only through a transition government in Cuba, through a democratically elected government in Cuba, through United States Government organizations, or through United States, international, or indigenous nongovernmental organizations.
(8)To encourage other countries and multilateral organizations to provide similar assistance, and to work cooperatively with such countries and organizations to coordinate such assistance.
(9)To ensure that appropriate assistance is rapidly provided and distributed to the people of Cuba upon the institution of a transition government in Cuba.
(10)Not to provide favorable treatment or influence on behalf of any individual or entity in the selection by the Cuban people of their future government.
(11)To assist a transition government in Cuba and a democratically elected government in Cuba to prepare the Cuban military forces for an appropriate role in a democracy.
(12)To be prepared to enter into negotiations with a democratically elected government in Cuba either to return the United States Naval Base at Guantanamo to Cuba or to renegotiate the present agreement under mutually agreeable terms.
(13)To consider the restoration of diplomatic recognition and support the reintegration of the Cuban Government into Inter-American organizations when the President determines that there exists a democratically elected government in Cuba.
(14)To take steps to remove the economic embargo of Cuba when the President determines that a transition to a democratically elected government in Cuba has begun.
(15)To assist a democratically elected government in Cuba to strengthen and stabilize its national currency.
(16)To pursue trade relations with a free, democratic, and independent Cuba.

Reference

Citations & Metadata

Citation

22 U.S.C. § 6061

Title 22Foreign Relations and Intercourse

Last Updated

Apr 5, 2026

Release point: 119-73not60