Biden said Cuba policy wasn’t a top priority. Then protests erupted
U.S. policy toward Cuba hasn’t changed in the six months since Joe Biden became president, with the White House acknowledging in March that it wasn’t a top priority.
Sunday’s widespread, pro-democracy protests throughout Cuba changed the equation.
South Florida Republicans urged Biden not to alter any of the policy changes made by former President Donald Trump that limited travel and remittances to Cuba. The president and White House press secretary Jen Psaki were peppered with questions about Cuba policy on Monday. And some left-leaning Democrats called for an end to the longtime U.S. embargo and expressed concern about the potential for U.S. intervention in response to the protests.
“There’s the world before the events of this weekend and the world after the events of this weekend,” said Fernand Amandi, a Cuban-American pollster and Democratic political consultant. “In my judgment, this completely changes how to think about U.S.-Cuba relations.”
But the actual policy remains unchanged since January, when Trump put Cuba on the list of states accused of sponsoring terrorism just before leaving office.
Throughout his four years in office, Trump, with the guidance of South Florida Republicans like Sen. Marco Rubio and U.S. Rep. Mario Diaz-Balart, rolled back many of the Cuba policy changes made by former President Barack Obama.
In 2017, the Trump administration banned U.S. commerce with the Cuban military, which controls most of the country’s tourism industry, and banned most individual travel to the island. Later that year the Trump administration pulled most of the U.S. Embassy staff out of Havana and expelled Cuban diplomats from Washington due to mysterious sonic attacks on embassy personnel.
The move to essentially vacate the U.S. Embassy exacerbated an ongoing backlog of visa applications from Cubans wishing to relocate to the U.S., a policy that was instituted after the last pro-democracy protests in Cuba in 1994 led to a wave of migration to the U.S.
And while Biden pledged to roll back many of Trump’s changes, which included banning cruises, most commercial flights and sanctions on Cuban firms that do business with Venezuela’s state-owned oil company, he hasn’t specifically said what he’ll alter and what will stay.
Psaki declined to offer any new developments or policy announcements on Monday, stating “given the protests were just happening over the last 24 to 48 hours, we’re assessing how we can be helpful directly to the people of Cuba in these circumstances.”
“Our approach continues to be governed by two principles. First, support for democracy and human rights, which is going to continue to be at the core of our efforts, through empowering the Cuban people to determine their own future,” Psaki said. “Second, Americans, especially Cuban-Americans, are the best ambassadors for freedom and prosperity in Cuba. I don’t have anything to predict for you in terms of any policy shift.”
Rubio offers policy possibilities
In response, Rubio sent Biden a list of five policy recommendations on Monday afternoon.
He asked that any effort from the Cuban government to encourage mass migration like it did during the 1980 Mariel boatlift “be viewed as a hostile action against the United States.”
He also said Biden should prioritize facilitating open and free internet access in Cuba, order the State Department to work with the European Union to coordinate a response that condemns the Cuban government’s handling of the protests, track down and sanction anyone who uses violence against protesters and provide COVID-19 vaccines to Cuba through independent organizations.
After the recommendations specifically related to the recent protests, Rubio reiterated a point made by other South Florida Republicans throughout the last two days — don’t mess with Trump’s policy changes.
“And finally, I ask that given the events of the last day, that your administration issue a clear and unambiguous statement that the current U.S. policies towards the regime implemented by the Trump Administration will remain in place,” Rubio said in his letter to Biden.
U.S. Sen. Rick Scott also said Biden should impose additional sanctions.
“We cannot return to Obama-Biden appeasement policies,” Scott said. “We cannot lift sanctions or restore diplomatic relations with the Cuban dictatorship. I urge the Biden administration to impose further sanctions on the tyrannical Cuban regime.”
Contrary points of view
Influential members of Biden’s own party are calling on the president to take the opposite approach. House Foreign Affairs chairman Gregory Meeks called for an end to sanctions in a statement on Monday.
“I call on President Biden to help alleviate the suffering in Cuba by rescinding the Trump-era sanctions and offering additional humanitarian and vaccine assistance to the Cuban people,” Meeks said in a statement.
But Amandi, who conducted a poll in March showing that Cuban-American voters do not support a return to Obama-era engagement with the communist island, said that Biden’s decision-making must now move beyond the traditional debate over remittances and travel to focus on a global pressure campaign to show solidarity with pro-democracy protesters.
“I think it first begins with calling for an immediate end to the Castro regime and offering an exit ramp for top party leaders to exit the country,” Amandi said. “If the presidential commitment is significant enough, help assemble and lead a government in exile to help pave the way for a transitional leadership structure. It’s put up or shut up time.”
Amandi, a Democrat, said he hopes Biden receives support from South Florida Republicans because the protests on Sunday were led by Cubans on the streets demanding libertad, a goal that both major U.S. political parties should support.
“The moment is pregnant for presidential leadership to keep pressure within the island of Cuba,” Amandi said. “This is another opportunity for Biden to have a legacy-defining moment around Cuba.”
This story was originally published July 12, 2021 at 6:44 PM.