Tag: Raul Castro

Why Are Cuba and the U.S. Still Mired in the Cold War? 

This is the title of a lengthy article in Foreign Policy by William H. LeoGrande, professor of government at American University in Washington, D.C. and a respected commentator on the important topic of this bilateral relation.[1]

Obama’s Normalization Effort

The starting point for his analysis is a review of the 10th anniversary of President Obama’s public announcement of his Administration’s start of normalization of relations with Cuba. Highlights of that effort were “ending the U.S. designation of Cuba as a state sponsor of terrorism, reopening of both countries embassies, President Obama’s visit to Cuba, loosening of restrictions on U.S. citizens travel to the island and resumption of U.S. airlines travel to Cuba, resulting increases in U.S. travel to the island, establishing a bilateral commission to oversee the work of 18 diplomatic working groups; and Obama’s prediction of an end to the U.S. embargo” (that did not happen). Nevertheless, this effort at normalization “was immensely popular both at home and abroad. Pope Francis blessed it, the Cuban people loved it, and the general U.S. public supported it, including more than half of Cuban Americans.”[2]

Trump’s First Term’s Return to Hostile Relations

LeoGrande then notes that in  his first term, Trump adopted new regulations to restrict U.S. travel to the island, impose limits on remittances, block business with Cuban companies managed by its military, disband bilateral working groups on various issues plus returned to Cuba’s designation as a state sponsor of terrorism.[3]

Biden’s Failure To Return to Obama’s Normalization

Leo Grande then had these brief remarks about President Biden. “During [Biden’s] campaign, he criticized the impact of Trump’s policies on Cuban families and promised to restore Obama’s policy of normalization ‘in large part.’ But he never did. Biden did adopt some ‘half-measures.’ Most importantly, he left Cuba on the lise of state sponsors of terrorism. The result has been an incoherent hybrid policy . . .and there is little indication that he will use his lame-duck period to finally keep the Cuba-policy promises he made in 2020.” [4]

Trump Redux

Leo Grande says, “Trump’s return to the White House could presage a return to maximum pressure, especially with Rubio as secretary of states and Rep. Mike Waltz as national security advisor. Rubio and Republican Cuban Americans on the Hill will surely push for it, just as they did in Trump’s first term. They will point out that 70 percent of Cuban Americans in Florida voted for him and that a recent Florida International University (FIU) poll found 72 percent of Cuban American respondents support maximum pressure to promote regime change.” [5]

“But resuming maximum pressure would stir a political hornet’s nest. After eight years of intense sanctions exacerbated by the Cuban government’s policy mistakes, the island is suffering an unprecedented economic and social crisis. Life is so hard and prospects for the future are so grim that more than a million Cubans—9 percent of the population—emigrated in the past three years.  Three-quarters of them have come to the United States, 690,000 arrived undocumented at the southern border, another 100,000 admitted under Biden’s humanitarian parole program. If Trump adopts policies that deepen Cuba’s crisis, the new surge of migrants could dwarf these numbers, which would seriously complicate his plans to end irregular immigration.”

Conclusion

LeoGrande concludes his article with the following words:

“[T]he key lesson from the fleeting rapprochement that began 10 years ago on Dec. 17, 2014, is that engagement benefits both countries and that bold and determined leaders can make it happen. The enthusiasm with which Cubans, Americans, and people around the world embraced the prospect of peace between the United States and Cuba underscored just how long overdue reconciliation was. Both Obama and Raúl Castro spoke of rebuilding bridges between their countries, and both acknowledged it would be hard to put decades of animosity to rest. It has proven harder than anyone expected in the halcyon days following Dec. 17, but the ties that bind Cuba and the United States—ties of family, commerce, culture, and the shared interests that come from living next door to one another—will eventually overcome the resistance of even the most recalcitrant politicians. As Henry Kissinger recognized half a century ago, ‘perpetual antagonism’ between the United States and Cuba need not be normal.’”

“Cuban Americans are not likely to support closing the southern border to Cuban migrants, and immigration law prohibits discrimination on the basis of nationality. If the administration tries to make an exception for Cubans, the policy will certainly be challenged in court. Trump’s plans to deport undocumented immigrants could face even bigger problems. Tearing recent Cuban migrants from their families, many of whom paid traffickers thousands of dollars to bring their relatives here, would cause a political firestorm in south Florida. The FIU poll found that 72 percent of respondents support humanitarian parole for Cuban migrants and that half are planning to bring relatives still in Cuba to the United States in the future.”

“In foreign policy, tougher Cuba sanctions would complicate relations with Mexico. President Claudia Sheinbaum is supporting Cuba by sending it cheap oil. In 2023, her predecessor, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, warned the Biden administration that Cuban migration spurred by U.S. sanctions was causing problems for Mexico and complicating cooperation with Washington on migration issues. Cooperation with Mexico, as Trump learned in his first term, is indispensable for limiting undocumented migration and narcotics trafficking across the southern border, which are all top priorities for him.”

“Escalating sanctions on Cuba could also complicate Trump’s desire to improve relations with Russia. Moscow has grown closer with Havana in recent years, expanding relations beyond economic cooperation into a ‘strategic partnership,’ as the two countries describe it. Cuba has defended Russia’s rationale for its invasion of Ukraine, making Havana a valuable ally in the Global South. And Russian President Vladimir Putin clearly values having an outpost in the United States “near abroad,” if only as a geopolitical thorn in Washington’s side. In short, Russia has a clear interest in the survival of the Cuban regime.”

“I f sanctions succeed in destabilizing Cuba to the point that the state fails and social violence erupts, the pressure from Cuban Americans for U.S. military intervention will be immense. Cuban American elected officials demanded intervention in July 2021, in response to the Cuban government’s suppression of nationwide demonstrations, even though the largely peaceful protests only lasted a few days. U.S. intervention would poison relations with Latin America for a generation.”

“But the key lesson from the fleeting rapprochement that began 10 years ago on Dec. 17, 2014, is that engagement benefits both countries and that bold and determined leaders can make it happen. The enthusiasm with which Cubans, Americans, and people around the world embraced the prospect of peace between the United States and Cuba underscored just how long overdue reconciliation was. Both Obama and Raúl Castro spoke of rebuilding bridges between their countries, and both acknowledged it would be hard to put decades of animosity to rest. It has proven harder than anyone expected in the halcyon days following Dec. 17, but the ties that bind Cuba and the United States—ties of family, commerce, culture, and the shared interests that come from living next door to one another—will eventually overcome the resistance of even the most recalcitrant politicians. As Henry Kissinger recognized half a century ago, “perpetual antagonism” between the United States and Cuba need not be normal.”

Reactions

This blog recently has been publishing posts about the horrible times currently being suffered in Cuba and hence the need for the U.S. to return to the normalization efforts of President Obama/ [6]

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[1] Leo Grande, Why Are Cuba and the U.S. Still Mired in the Cold War?, Foreign Policy (Dec. 12, 2024).

[2] See the posts listed in the following sections of List of Posts to dwkcommentaries—Topical: CUBA [as of 5/4/20]: U.S. (Obama) & Cuba Relations (Normalization), 2014; U.S. (Obama) & Cuba Relations (Normalization), 2015; U.S. (Obama) & Cuba Relations (Normalization), 2016; and U.S. (Obama) & Cuba Relations (Normalization), 2017.

[3] See the posts listed in  the following sections of  that List of Posts: U.S. (Trump) & Cuba Relations, 2016-17; and U.S. (Trump) and Cuba, 2018.

[4] I concur in LeoGrande’s analysis and conclusion.

[5] Another concurrence.

[6] E.g., U.S. Congressmen Ask President Biden To Provide Sanctions Relief and Other Aid to Cuba (Nov. 20, 2024); Cuba’s Unstoppable Spiral of Misery, dwkcommentaries.com (Dec. 4, 2024);Diario de Cuba’s Editorial on Its 15th Anniversary, dwkcommentaries.com (Dec. 5, 2024); Will Cuba Lose Almost Half of Its Population by 2100?,  dwkcommentaries.com (Dec.14, 2024).

 

Diario de Cuba’s Editorial on Its 15th Anniversary

On December 4 , Diario de Cuba, a daily Internet Cuban diary (in Spanish and English) published in Madrid, Spain, celebrated its 15th anniversary with the following editorial.[1]

“Exactly 15 years ago, the first news and articles from this newspaper appeared on the screens of some readers. Over the course of this decade and a half, changes have taken place in Cuba, but not those necessary for the country’s democratization.”

“Fidel Castro died—which for many seemed not only unimaginable, but impossible—and something else happened that had seemed impossible: the people took to the streets to protest their living conditions. The regime in Havana opened an embassy in Washington, Washington opened an embassy in Havana, and the rapprochement between the two countries, arranged by President Obama, was ultimately sabotaged by the Cuban regime.”

“With Miguel Díaz-Canel chosen by Raúl Castro, the first revolutionary leader who did not participate in the armed struggle rose to the presidency of the country and the secretariat of its sole party. Almost the country’s entire productive economy passed into the hands of the military conglomerate GAESA , which has set about building hotels while ignoring the downturn in tourism and ruling out investments much needed for the Cuban population.”

“The country became even more indebted and, in a vicious circle, persisted in its tradition of shirking its financial obligations. The authorities implemented the most ill-advised monetary policies possible, so inflation runs rampant in Cuba. Medical professionals and technicians have been, and continue to be, exploited by means of contracts lucrative for the regime but exploitive for them.”

“In response to the popular protests, the regime ratcheted up its repression against dissidents, activists and independent journalists, as the Justice system was turned into an ever stronger mechanism of repression , and the number of political prisoners grew. Censorship of thought and the arts intensified, and those young artists who protested ended up in prison or having to go into exile.”

“The migratory wave in the history of the country began, and the emigration of the youngest Cubans, along with low birth rates, has contributed to a largest acute aging of the population . Every day it is more and more difficult to have children in Cuba. Elderly Cubans are more vulnerable than ever. The regime used to have a “monopoly” on violence, but now cities and towns are no longer safe. Public insecurity is on the rise, gangs of young people are forming, and VAW is claiming more and more victims.”

“Each new state measure manages to render agriculture and livestock even more unproductive. Cuba, once the world’s largest exporter of sugar, has been fallen apart, with the country now importing sugar for several years. The only plant that grows in Cuba is marabou, and farmers determined to make the land produce are hampered by new restrictions. Meanwhile, no less onerous burdens weigh on entrepreneurs, who have been allowed, reluctantly, to start MSMEs.”

“Health and education, which for decades were the regime’s showpieces, have collapsed, their decline evident in the unhealthy state of hospital facilities and students’ poor results. Sports, another point of pride for socialism, are suffering a similar fate. Not even baseball is spared. Just as Cuba ceased to be a sugar powerhouse, it has now ceased to be a baseball power too.”

“In the last 15 years the regime has been dismantling the welfare system with which it had mitigated social inequalities, to the point that it no longer addresses the fate of the most disadvantaged . Today we can talk about the end of the grocery store book and rationing card. With blackout after blackout, the island has been sunk in darkness, and the national electrical system can no longer hold up. The last hurricanes to hit the island have highlighted the ineffectiveness of its on-effective civil defense system.”

“Old, dilapidated buildings continue, inexorably, to collapse, and the construction of new homes is an unresolved problem in every government plan. Vagrants, homeless people, and children who work, or beg, are becoming more common on Cuban streets. Meanwhile, his heirs of the regime’s elite boast on social media about what their parents have stolen, and continue to steal.”

“The Cuban regime cultivates alliances with nations like Russia, China, Iran and North Korea, and continues to meddle in Venezuela’s politics. It no longer operates based on any ideology, but rather on the exercise of brute force, and continues to mutate towards a dictatorship shamelessly open to benefiting a fortunate few.”

“Over the course of this last decade and a half, DIARIO DE CUBA has been there, studying and covering the scenarios briefly summarized above. In celebration of its birthday, last October the “For the Cuba of Tomorrow” DDC Forum was held in Madrid. Through it, and its day-to-day work, DDC demonstrates its commitment to the Cuba of the future.”

“On this anniversary, all that remains is to thank all our contributors and readers, and to renew this publication’s commitment to Cuba and to Cuban democracy.”

Reactions

As a U.S. citizen with some connections with Cuba, including three visits to the island at the start of this century, conversations with Cubans who have visited the U.S. and carefully following the published news about Cuba, especially those in Diario de Cuba, and writing blog posts about same,[2] I concur in most of this editorial’s observations.

However, although agreeing that U.S. President Obama had taken steps for “rapprochement between the two countries,” I think it is overstatement to claim that this effort was “ultimately sabotaged by the Cuban regime.” Obama’s successor (President Donald Trump) reversed some of those steps and the whole psychology of improving the relationship and even President Biden has not returned to the Obama effort.[3]

Recently a group of 15 U.S. Congress Representatives wrote a letter to President Biden urgently requesting “immediate action to stabilize Cuba’s energy infrastructure and provide critical humanitarian assistance. The Cuban people are currently facing widespread blackouts and an escalating energy crisis, exacerbated by the impact of Hurricane Rafael. The situation is not only causing immense suffering for the Cuban people but also poses serious risks to U.S. national security interests. If left unaddressed, the crisis will almost certainly fuel increased migration, strain U.S. border management systems, and fully destabilize the already-strained Caribbean region.”[4]

Therefore, these Congressmen “strongly” recommended “removing Cuba from the State Sponsors of Terrorism (SSOT) list” and suspending “sanctions that hinder the flow of humanitarian assistance, including restoring the EAR license exception to allow donations to Cuban health and humanitarian relief entities.” This blogger endorsed those recommendations plus asking President Biden to “eliminate the U.S. embargo of Cuba. . . .“

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[1]  Editorial: DIARIO DE CUBA Turns 15, Diario de Cuba (Dec. 4, 2024)..

[2]  See List of Posts to dwkcommentaries—Topical: CUBA [as of 5/4/20}.The labor of manually preparing updates to this list has discouraged the blogger from creating similar subsequent lists.

[3] See the posts listed in these sections (U.S. (Obama) & Cuba Relations (Normalization), 2014; U.S. (Obama) & Cuba Relations (Normalization), 2015); U.S. (Obama) & Cuba Relations (Normalization), 2016);and U.S. (Obama) & Cuba Relations (Normalization), 2017; U.S. (Trump) & Cuba Relations, 2016-17) of List of Posts to dwkcommentaries– Topical: CUBA [as of 5/4/20}.

[4] U.S. Congressmen Ask President Biden To Provide Sanctions Relief and Other Aid to Cuba, dwkcommentaries.com (Nov. 20, 2024).

Noted Critic of Cuba Lambasts EU Aid to Cuba 

The Wall Street Journal’s columnist, Mary Anastasia O’Grady, has penned a severe criticism of the European Union’s financial aid to the island. This July, for example, the EU “sent E500,000 to Cuba, ostensibly  for ‘public health’” and its “Multiannual Indicative Programme (MIP) for Cuba for 2021-2024 amounts to €91 million.”[1]

“Anna Fotyga, a former Polish minister of foreign affairs and a former member of the European Parliament, wrote in the European Conservative last week that it’s ‘estimated that the EU is currently funding 80 projects in Cuba at a cost of nearly 155 million euros. Every single one of these projects is run by organizations with close ties to the Raul Castro regime.’”

In short,”there is no such thing as an independent nongovernmental organization that receives money from abroad in Cuba. . . . Sending money to Cuba is sending money to the regime.”

Moreover, “European aid  . . . also goes against European interests because Havana is helping Russia in its effort to take Ukraine.”

“[B]ankrupt Havana is desperate for hard currency. First because its economy doesn’t grow. Second because it needs to maintain its repressive police state, at home and in Venezuela where the Cuban agents have infiltrated the military.”

“J11 (the day of mass arrests of Cuban protesters) “revealed the raw brutality the regime uses to keep the lid on popular discontent. Condemnation came from all quarters. Hollywood apologists went silent.”

“Dissident leader Daniel Ferrer is in a prison on the other end of the island. The website Ciber Cuba reported on Aug. 22 that the 56-year-old ‘is in a sealed cell, where hardly any air circulates’ and there is no daylight. He ‘perceives a constant noise within the cell’ and suffers “severe headaches, ringing in the ears, bleeding in the mouth, loss of vision, cramps, and momentary paralysis in his hands.”

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[1] O’Grady, The EU Funds Havana—and Helps Moscow, W.S.J. (Sept. 1, 2024); O’Grady’s bio.

 

Cuban Economist Says Cuba Today Is a Catastrophe

Carmelo Mesa-Lago, a Cuban economist and professor emeritus at the University of Pittsburgh, says tensions between economic and political power make Cuba today a catastrophe.[1]

Since 2019, Cuba’s own data shows average annual decline of 2% in its economy. And its industrial production in 2022 was less than half of what it was in 1989. And agricultural production has experienced an average annual drop of 7.3% between 2016 and 2022 while Cuba does not generate enough exports to pay for imports. This has resulted in Cuban inflation that is among the highest in the world. This requires Cuba to depend on another nation; first it was the Soviet Union, then Venezuela, but both of them had their own problems that interfered with such assistance to Cuba.

The economic and cultural reforms promoted by Raul Castro were well oriented, but they were very slow, loaded with obstacles, high taxes and inspections. Now the egalitarian society is over, but the Government does not talk about it. Instead it blames the private sector while refusing to delegate economic power which would require a delegation of political power.

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[1]  Carmelo Mesa-Lago: ’anything you look at, housing, health, education, everything is finished,’ Diario de Cuha (June 11, 2024).

 

Russia’s Top Security Official Meetings in Havana     

On February 27, 2024, Nikolai Patrushev, Russia’s to security official, met in Havana with Cuba’s retired general Raul Castro. Other Russians in attendance were officials from Russian spy agencies like the Federal Security Service and the Foreign Intelligence Service in addition to officials from the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the Ministry of Justice and other government agencies.[1]

Patrushev said Moscow is ready to provide “full, comprehensive support to our Latin American friends, including preventing interference in the internal affairs of countries friendly to us, discrediting their legitimate authorities, intimidating the population, and destabilizing the economy.”

According to a Russian newspaper, Rossiyskaya Gazeta, they discussed “issues of practical cooperation between Russia and Cuba in the field of security,” reinforcing views that despite being out of office, the 92-year old Cuban revolutionary leader is still making important military and political decisions.

This Russian official also met and discussed security and economic issues with Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel, who reportedly praised Putin’s recent interview with former Fox host Tucker Carlson, an hours-long exchange in which the Russian leader tried to provide historical justifications for his invasion of Ukraine. Afterwards Diaz-Canel said this exchange provided historical justifications for Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

In a subsequent meeting sith officials from Cuba, Venezuela, Bolivia and Nicaragua, Patrushev promised “comprehensive support” to Russian allies in Latin America against U.S. “interference.”

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[1] Torres, Top Putin ally meets Castro, vows ‘comprehensive support’ to allies in Latin America, Miami Herald (Feb. 27, 2024).

 

 

 

Cuba’s Worsening Economic and Political Crisis 

Emilio Morales, a Cuban who has had wide-ranging marketing experience on the island, is now the President and CEO of Havana Consulting Group, a Miami-based consulting firm specializing in market intelligence and strategy for U.S. and and non-U.S. persons doing business in Cuba.[1]

Morales has provided a detailed analysis of Cuba’s worsening economic and political crisis.[2] The following is part of that analysis.

“The multi-systemic crisis that overwhelms Cubans and that has been caused by the ineptitude and mediocrity of those in power (shielded by lunatic ideological fanaticism and the ambition to control all the country’s wealth, leaves no room to make structural changes that are required to get out of the crisis) has generated a chaotic situation that seems to have no way out.”

‘The country is bankrupt, it has no lines of credit, its energy matrix is ​​collapsed, the three main areas of income have fallen precipitously: tourism, remittances and exports of medical services. The agricultural system is practically paralyzed, the sugar industry is destroyed. The health system, the education system and the transportation system suffer the same fate. There is nothing left to destroy. The only thing that is increasing is poverty and citizen anger, which so far in the last two years more than 600,000 Cubans have resolved by leaving the country.”

“Faced with this reality, the ruling leadership has postponed any forum for debate that exists in the political structures authorized in the country to address the economic, political and social issues that affect the country and its citizens. Months ago, the party apparatus suspended the Second National Conference of the Party, invoking the need to ‘be consistent with the economic situation of the country.’ Some time later, the Council of State announced the suspension for the second consecutive quarter of the so-called Accountability Assemblies of the delegates to his voters, an activity through which the Castro regime has tried for decades to illustrate its alleged model of ‘popular democracy’.”

“In other words, Cubans are mired in poverty, and the regime has closed the forums where they can channel their complaints, even though these have never really worked and have always been pure circus. But the leadership no longer even dares to put on its circus.”

“In this sense, the call for unity made by Raúl Castro on January 2, meant a strong alarm signal. At such a crucial moment, when what the people need is a message of hope, the nonagenarian dictator used his speech to instill fear in the already decimated partisan troops and in the military who no longer believe in the obligatory loyalty and obedience for which They once swore an oath to which they have been subjected for decades. Raúl Castro knows that this is the last bastion that apparently keeps them in power. It is what he has left before leaving this world, in his last-minute fight to avoid the collapse of the legacy that the revolution has kept alive with the historical generation.”

“Without a doubt, the country is not only experiencing a great multisystem crisis, it is also experiencing a great leadership crisis. In the ranks of the PCC and in the Armed Forces themselves there is a great feeling of discontent, and a high level of fatigue that manifests itself in apathy, harsh criticism of the system and the actions of the country’s leaders. This explains Raúl’s defeatist speech on January 2, calling for unity that no longer exists, and remembering that he will get out of the way of anyone who opposes the changes they order.”

“It is obvious that Counterintelligence has deeply penetrated the unrest that exists right now in the military and partisan ranks themselves . Hence, the sudden operation to reverse the package. A rebellion like the one on July 11, 2021 with the accompaniment of dissatisfied soldiers and militants of the party in rebellion would be the end of the dictatorship, and that reality is taking a toll on Saturn in these crucial moments.”

“GAESA collapses and the Russian bailout evaporates.”[3]

“The manifest insecurity at the top of power is related, among other factors, to two key factors: the lack of financial resources and the absence of a patron to keep it afloat at this stage of such political vulnerability. In this sense, the financial collapse of GAESA and the evaporation of the Russian bailout have suddenly triggered an increase in the level of vulnerability that the Cuban regime presents today. Certainly the largest it has had in more than six decades of communist dictatorship.”

“GAESA’s financial collapse is a key factor. In this sense, it should be noted that the death of General Luis Alberto Rodriguez López Callejas, CEO of GAESA, has generated a great disaster in the megaholding of the Cuban oligarchs. The verticality in decision-making and the management of the country’s finances and investments at its own convenience has turned out to be an indecipherable riddle for the substitutes that Raúl Castro has placed in his replacement strategy. Apparently no one gives a clue about how GAESA is managed.”

“At first glance, internally there is disorder, abandonment, undersupplied stores, and management personnel setting up their own MSMEs . A kind of mafia stampede is taking place, trying to create new small fiefdoms. The loss of suppliers, the company’s large debts with them, and the Government’s immobility in making decisions have generated an internal piñata that does not seem to be controlled. The level of control that existed in the company when López Calleja was there has disappeared. This is a very strong sign of internal collapse, of breaking the chain of command.”

“What happened recently at FINCIMEX on the eve of the package, with the issue of computer systems that control banking connections and the issuance of magnetic cards, is a good example of the breakdown of order within GAESA. As a result, the Western Union company has had to suspend remittance shipments to the Island until further notice and the issuance of cards for the sale of gasoline in dollars has stopped.”

“Obviously, something big is happening internally at GAESA . The last-minute problems that arose with their computer systems paralyzed the operations of stores, gas stations and remittance shipments. This unusual misfortune “coincided” with the abrupt abortion of the package, which has generated countless speculations. The truth is that a big sinkhole has suddenly occurred in GAESA and this further stirs up the uncertainty of what may happen in the coming days.”

“On the other hand, the announced Russian rescue has been much ado about nothing. Apparently the Russians do not trust the twisted Cuban legal system and have contained the investment drive that initially seemed to encompass several of the most important sectors of the Cuban economy. However, nothing is moving in the direction of investments.”

“Given the little movement seen so far, it is understandable that the Russian side is being very cautious when it comes to making decisions about million-dollar investments on the Island . The Russian side knows perfectly well that the Cuban regime is not a reliable partner in economic terms. On the other hand, it has realized the precariousness of the Cuban model and the primitive mentality when doing business on the part of the Cuban nomenclature. In that sense, the old and obsolete Cuban economic model does not fit with the Russian model. This disparity does not allow for faster progress in the negotiations. That is why everything remains speculation and promises that do not seem to be fulfilled. In reality, the true rapprochement has been on the military geopolitical level, in the game of the new Cold War unleashed by the Russian invasion of Ukraine, and proven in practice with the support that the Cuban regime has given to Russia by sending mercenaries. Cubans to war and making Cuban territory available to receive visits from Russian bombers and submarines carrying nuclear weapons.”

“Very little has happened, however, in the economic and commercial sphere. A company has been created in Mariel for the storage and distribution of merchandise, but so far nothing moves in that warehouse. Russian banks have been connected with Cuban banks to allow the use of Russian cards on the Island. The most significant thing has been the increase in the number of flights from Russia to Cuba, which has meant an increase in Russian tourism by 3%. compared to the previous year. There have been approaches to explore investments in the energy sector, but nothing concrete so far. Not even Russian oil reaches Cuba anymore . Outside of that, from a commercial point of view nothing significant has transpired.”

“The current situation in the country is extremely critical. Without a doubt, the current crisis far exceeds that of the Special Period, at the beginning of the 90s. This is a multi-systemic crisis for which the Government has not yet found a way out. The incompetence of the ruling leadership that holds power, added to the lack of existing leadership in the country, the state of bankruptcy in which finances find themselves, the deterioration of the main industries, the 75% decrease in the income of the economy compared to 15 years ago, have buried all hope in Cubans for a solution to this crisis. As a consequence, more than 80% of the Cuban population today lives in poverty.”

“At a time when GAESA, the oligarchic octopus that controls 95% of the finances and more than 70% of the main sectors of the country’s economy, is collapsing internally and the Russian financial bailout evaporates, everything indicates that the country It is heading towards total collapse. Faced with this reality, the Cuban people must understand that the sudden abortion of the package was a desperate action to avoid an imminent large-scale social outbreak, which would surely be joined by dissatisfied partisan militants and a large number of dissatisfied military personnel. Something very different from what happened on July 11, 2021.”

“The fear that the ruling leadership has of the people’s anger is evident . The nonagenarian dictator is very clear and knows that, given the current circumstances, the probability that the system will break down before his own death is real. That is why he has launched a plan B, removing ministers to try to clean up the face of the Government. However, the Cuban people no longer swallow this type of makeup as solutions to appease emergencies, which can only be overcome with a change in the system.”

“Meanwhile, the uncertainty of what may happen on the Island in the coming days increases to the extent that blackouts, shortages of fuel, food and medicine, as well as inflation, continue to increase.”

“Not one, but several black swans flutter over the sky of the dying revolution, at a time when the internal fissures within the ranks of power are increasing and putting the Palace oligarchs in maximum tension. The Cuban people and the living forces of society must be alert to events that may occur at any moment. When the river sounds it is because it brings stones.”

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[1] Emilio Morales, Biography, Linkedin.

[2] Morales, Why is the Cuban regime aborting the package with such urgency?, Diario de Cuba (Feb. 17, 2024).

[3] “Grupo de Administración Empresarial S.A. (GAESA) is a Cuban military-controlled umbrella enterprise with interests in the tourism, financial investment, import/export, and remittance sectors of Cuba’s economy. GAESA’s portfolio includes businesses incorporated in Panama to bypass CACR-related restrictions.” (U.S.Treasury Dept., Press Release: Treasury Identifies Cuban State-Owned Businesses for Sanctions Evasion (Dec. 21, 2020).)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Almost All Cubans Suffer Worst Economic Crisis in the History of the Western Hemisphere   

This indictment is handed out by Roberto Alvarez-Quinones, a Cuban journalist, economist and historian who after working in Cuba for Granma and Cuban television stations has been doing that work since 1996 in Los Angeles, California.[1]

Summary of His Indictment

“Never in the history of the entire West has there been such an overwhelming economic and social crisis that it has affected practically 99% of the total population of a country, without having been caused by a natural catastrophe or a war, but by the Government of the nation.”

“That record is held by Castroism . The current Cuban crisis is unprecedented, deplorably exceptional. It strikes today and with no possible solution in sight, because the dictator Raúl “El Cruel” refuses to dismantle the political-economic-social system that has caused the collapse of the economy and of Cuba in general.”

One example of the current collapse is Cuban sugar production. “Today, without a global crisis, and with the international price of sugar higher than ever on average (26 cents per pound at the end of November, Cuba produces 390,000 tons of sugar and imports . . . [more] to cover national consumption.”

The reason, Quinones says, is that “there is no free market, which creates wealth, distributes it and regulates the market. . . . Communist -Castro totalitarianism prevents the existence of the natural spectrum of seven social categories that exist in normal (capitalist) countries: very rich, rich, upper middle class, lower middle class, poor, very poor and the totally helpless. This diverse social range is reduced in Cuba to first, second, and third class citizens.”

“At the top of that social pyramid is embedded a tiny, very rich and privileged patriciate, screwed in power, or attached to it by family, “historical” ties, very high bureaucracy, or by lucrative mafia commitments. My estimate is that this elite of communist first-class citizens may belong between 0.02% and 0.03% of the total population. We are talking about between 2,140 and 3,210 people more or less, in a total population of 10.7 million inhabitants. . . . That Castro patriciate is practically immune to the crisis, although not completely. Only the dictator, the most conspicuous historical figures such as Ramiro Valdés, Machado Ventura, Guillermo García, Alvaro López Miera and his families have absolute immunity, and a few more privileged high-ranking officials and civilians. They make up the crème de la crème of the regime.”

“Then come those who the communist claque considers second class citizens, despite the fact that they enjoy some advantages, these not of political, historical or caste origin, but because they have a lot of money, or receive remittances and packages from their relatives abroad. They are rich peasants, business owners, MSMEs plugged into the dictatorship, and the 28% of ‘dollarized’ Cubans who can buy in shopping malls. The rich in this case are ‘virtual,’ holograms. They accumulate money that they have no way to spend or invest. The State does not produce anything to offer them, and it matters less and less. And the sale of land and rental of real estate, or entire beaches, is only for foreign capitalists.”

“We then reach the most oppressed or third class citizens. Poor, extremely poor, and helpless. The vast majority are very poor since they receive a daily income of less than $2.15 a day, the minimum established by the World Bank to identify extreme poverty.”

“Battered by one of the highest inflation rates in the world and a staggering devaluation of the peso, today the average salary in Cuba, of about 5,000 pesos (40.65 dollars), barely covers 29.4% of the family basket, almost 17,000 pesos (138 dollars).”

“And the Cuban minimum wage is 17.64 dollars per month (2,170 pesos), almost eight times lower than the cost of the basic basket.”

“[T]he pensions of the 1.7 million retirees are 1,901 pesos per month on average, nine times less than what the basic basket costs. How do the elderly manage to eat and satisfy their minimum needs? The Government doesn’t give a damn about that. It is already known that if they die of hunger they attribute the death to other causes.”

“The [Cuban] Minister of Agriculture, Ydael Pérez, admitted that the production of pork, rice and beans (basic foods in Cuba) fell by more than 80% this year compared to 2019. Only “40% of the fuel has been imported”  . . . [and] 4% of fertilizers and 20% of animal feed. Chicken imports from the US fell 40% in September, compared to August. The debacle of national production aggravates everything. Already on the black market, a carton of 30 eggs costs 3,000 pesos, 38% more than a full minimum wage.”

In short, Cuba is suffering a “suffocating crisis consciously caused to more than 99% of the inhabitants. Something never seen in the Western world.”

==============================

[1] Quinones, 99% of the population of Cuba suffers the worst economic crisis ever in America, Diario de Cuba (Dec. 9, 2023); Roberto Alvarez-Quinones, Hispanic L.A.

 

New U.S. Sanctions Against Cuba

The U.S. recently has announced additional sanctions against Cuba. Here is a summary of those measures.

 U.S.Sanctions Against Certain Cuban Hotels, Cigars and Alcohol[1]

On September 23 President Trump announced that the “Treasury Department will prohibit U.S. travelers from staying at properties owned by the Cuban government. We’re also further restricting the importation of Cuban alcohol and Cuban tobacco. These actions will ensure that U.S. dollars do not fund the Cuban regime and go directly to the Cuban people.”

Treasury Secretary Mnuchin said, “The Cuban regime has been redirecting revenue from authorized U.S. travel for its own benefit, often at the expense of the Cuban people. This Administration is committed to denying Cuba’s oppressive regime access to revenues used to fund their malign activities, both at home and abroad.”

A negative assessment of this move was made by Lawrence Ward, a partner in the international law firm Dorsey & Whitney, who said Trump’s action will make it nearly impossible for Americans to visit Cuba since the government owns or controls nearly all hotels. “Certainly, these new sanctions will have some minor impact on the Cuban government and Cuba’s economy but there’s a fair argument that the actions are more symbolic and political given that the United States stands nearly alone in its sanctions as to Cuba.”

Enrique Gutierrez, a spokesman for the Democratic Party said in an email, “This is a desperate and hypocritical attempt by Trump to pander to Cuban-American voters in Florida. American citizens are already banned from traveling to Cuba because of the coronavirus.” Mr. Trump was “using our foreign policy for his own political gain.”

U.S. Sanctions Against Cuban Debit Cards[2]

On September 28, the State Department added American International Services (AIS), a financial institution, to the Cuba Restricted List. According to Secretary of State Michael Pompeo, the stated reason for this action was AIS’ allegedly being “controlled by the Cuban military that processes remittances sent to the Cuban people” and its charging “fees and manipulat[ing] the remittance and foreign currency market as part of the regime’s schemes to make money and support its repressive apparatus. The profits earned from these operations disproportionately benefit the Cuban military, furthering repression of the Cuban people and funding Cuba’s meddling in Venezuela.”

The Secretary added, “Adding AIS to the Cuba Restricted List furthers the Administration’s goal of preventing the Cuban military from controlling and benefiting from the flow of remittances that should instead benefit the Cuban people.  The people should be able to receive funds from their family abroad without having to line the pockets of their oppressors.” Therefore, the Secretary urged “anyone who sends remittances to family in Cuba to use means other than Cuban government-controlled remittance entities.”

This move against AIS hurts ordinary Cubans who receive remittances in hard currencies from families in the U.S. and elsewhere through AIS that are used to buy food in government-owned retail grocery stores. Bruno Rodriguez, Cuba’s foreign minister, said in a tweet, “it is a maneuver aimed at damaging the Cuban people and the family ties between both nations.”

List of Cuba Prohibited Accommodations and Entities [3]

In addition, on September 28, the Department published its initial list of Cuba Prohibited Accommodations. This is a “list of properties in Cuba owned or controlled by the Cuban government, a prohibited official of the Government of Cuba, as defined in 31 CFR § 515.337, a prohibited member of the Cuban Communist Party, as defined in 31 CFR § 515.338, a close relative, as defined in 31 CFR § 515.339, of a prohibited official of the Government of Cuba, or a close relative of a prohibited member of the Cuban Communist Party.” The list is by cities and towns that not in alphabetical order so it should be carefully examined by any U.S. citizen traveling to Cuba.

On September 29, the Department published the List of Restricted Entities and Subentities Associated with Cuba. This is a “list of entities and subentities under the control of, or acting for or on behalf of, the Cuban military, intelligence, or security services or personnel with which direct financial transactions would disproportionately benefit such services or personnel at the expense of the Cuban people or private enterprise in Cuba.” U.S. nationals are prohibited from having “direct financial transactions with these entities.”

Another Cuban “Blocked Person”[4]

On September 30 the Department added Luis Alberto Rodriguez Lopez-Calleja to the U.S. list of Specially Designated Nationals and Blocked Persons, which will block all transactions with “all assets, property and interests of property of Mr. Lopez-Calleja that are subject to U.S. jurisdiction, including within the possession or control of U.S. persons.”   The stated reason for this action was his being the head of the Cuban military-owned conglomerate Grupo de Administración Empresarial S.A. (GAESA), which allegedly uses its revenue “to oppress the Cuban people and to fund Cuba’s parasitic, colonial domination of Venezuela.  He also is the son-in-law of Raul Castro.

Other Reactions [5]

 These new sanctions might seem inconsequential to someone in the U.S. But they are especially mean-spirited when directed at the much smaller and weaker island whose economy is suffering from the total collapse of foreign tourism and mismanagement and whose food is sold at high prices in government-operated stores only for U.S. Dollars as a way for the government to obtain Dollars it needs for other purposes.

Elijah Love, a commentator in the private Diario de Cuba and generally supportive of U.S. restrictions on Cuba, says, “Unfortunately, private entrepreneurs have been especially harmed, and although the US government wants the sanctions applied to military companies and State Security to leave room for private entrepreneurs to occupy the place they deserve, it does not seem that this be the case.”

===================================

[1] White House, Remarks by President Trump Honoring Bay of Pigs Veterans (Sept. 23, 2020); Treasury Dep’t, Office of Foreign Asset Control, Cuban Assets Control Regulations, 85 Fed. Reg. 60068-72 (Sept. 24, 3030)(new prohibition on lodging and related transactions at certain Cuban properties; restrictions on U.S. imports of Cuban alcohol and tobacco products; ends authorization of attendance or organization of professional meetings in Cuba and participation or organization of certain public performances , clinics , workshops in Cuba); Yeginsu, Trump Administration Adds to US Travel Restrictions in Cuba, N.Y. Times (Sept. 24, 2020); Superville, Trump tightens Cuba sanctions as he woos Cuban-American vote, Wash. Post (Sept. 23, 2020).

[2] State Dep’t, Addition to the Cuba Restricted List (Sept. 28. 2020); Rodriguez, U.S. adds popular Cuban debit card to restricted list, Wash. Post (Sept. 28, 2020).

[3]  State Dep’t, Cuba Prohibited Accommodations List Initial Publication (Sept. 28, 2020);  State Dep’t, List of Restricted Entities and Subentities Associated with Cuba Effective September 29, 2020 (Sept. 29, 2020)

[4] State Dep’t, Press Statement (Secretary Michael Pompeo): Addition to the Specially Designated Nationals and Blocked Persons List (Sept. 30, 2020);Lee, US imposes sanctions on Cuba’s Raul Castro’s son-in-law, Wash. Post (Sept. 30, 2020)

[5]  Augustin & Robles, Cuba’s Economy Was Hurting. The Pandemic Brought a Food Crisis, N.Y. Times (Sept. 20, 2020); Love, US sanctions on the Cuban economy create opportunities, but also risks, Diario de Cuba (Sept.  29, 2020).

 

More U.S. Actions Against Cuba

Last week the U.S. announced three more actions against Cuba: (1) sanctions on more Venezuelan vessels and entities transporting oil to Cuba; (2) U.S. travel restrictions on Raúl Castro and family; and (3) urging other countries to join the U.S. campaign against Cuba’s foreign medical mission program. Here are details about those U.S. actions followed by this blogger’s reactions to them.

Venezuelan Entities and Vessels Transporting Oil to Cuba [1]

On September 24, the U.S. “designated four companies that operate in Venezuela’s oil sector as sanctioned, and identified as blocked property four vessels associated with this activity.”

“This action further targets Venezuela’s oil sector and the mechanisms used to transport oil to Nicolás Maduro’s Cuban benefactors, who continue to prop up the former regime.  These sanctions are a follow-on to the designations and identifications announced on April 5 and 12 that targeted entities and vessels known to be involved in the transportation of crude oil from Venezuela to Cuba.”

“With this action, the sanctioned entities will be denied access to the U.S. financial system.  In addition, a freeze will be placed on these entities’ U.S. assets.”

In a speech to the U.N. General Assembly on September 28,  Cuba’s Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez had these words about this and prior U.S. actions inhibiting or preventing such oil shipments.  Only “a few months ago the US government has started to implement, criminal, non-conventional measures to prevent fuel shipments from arriving to our country from different markets, by resorting to threats and persecution against the companies that transport fuel, flag States, States of registration as well as shipping and insurance companies. As a result of that, we have been facing severe difficulties to ensure the supply of the fuel that the everyday-life of the country demands; and we’ve been forced to adopt temporary emergency measures that could only be applied in a well-organized country, with a united and fraternal people that is ready to defend itself from foreign aggressions and preserve the social justice that has been achieved.” [2]

Travel Restrictions on Raúl Castro [3]

On September 26, the U.S. State Department announced that it “is publicly designating Raul Modesto Castro Ruz, the First Secretary of the Central Committee of the Cuban Communist Party and General of the Cuban Revolutionary Armed Forces, under Section 7031(c) of the FY 2019 Department of State, Foreign Operations, and Related Programs Appropriations Act, due to his involvement in gross violations of human rights.  Section 7031(c) provides that, in cases where the Secretary of State has credible information that foreign government officials have been involved in significant corruption or a gross violation of human rights, those individuals and their immediate family members are ineligible for entry into the United States.”

“As First Secretary of the Cuban Communist Party, Raul Castro oversees a system that arbitrarily detains thousands of Cubans and currently holds more than 100 political prisoners.  As General of Cuba’s Armed Forces, Castro is responsible for Cuba’s actions to prop up the former Maduro regime in Venezuela through violence, intimidation, and repression.  In concert with Maduro’s military and intelligence officers, members of the Cuban security forces have been involved in gross human rights violations and abuses in Venezuela, including torture.  Castro is complicit in undermining Venezuela’s democracy and triggering the hemisphere’s largest humanitarian crisis, forcing 15 percent of the Venezuelan population to flee the country and precipitating a food shortage and health crisis of unprecedented scale in this region.”

“In addition to the public designation of Raul Castro, the Department is also publicly designating his children, Alejandro Castro Espin, Deborah Castro Espin, Mariela Castro Espin, and Nilsa Castro Espin.”

Cuba immediately responded to this action in remarks by Foreign Minister Rodriguez in his previously mentioned address to the U.N. General Assembly. He said this action was based on “gross slanders” and “is void of any practical effect, aimed at offending Cuba’s dignity and the feelings of our people. This is nothing but vote-catching leftovers that are being tossed away to the Cuban-American extreme right. . . . the open and offensive falsehoods that are being used in an attempt to justify them, which we strongly reject, are a reflection of the baseness and rottenness resorted to by this administration, which is drowning in a sea of corruption, lies and immorality.”

More generally the Foreign Minister said that the tightening of US sanctions against Havana reflects the “rot” that Washington goes to asphyxiate the Island and that the “criminal and unconventional measures” of the Trump administration against Cuba are “electoral crumbs” intended for “the Cuban-American extreme right” before the 2020 elections.

U.S. Call for Reports of Alleged Abuses of Cuban Medical Missionaries [4]

Also on September 26, this at the U.N.’s New York Foreign Press Center, the U.S. hosted a briefing on alleged abuses in Cuba’s foreign medical mission program that was moderated by Morgan Ortagus, State Department Spokesperson. In the Department’s background for this event, it alleged, “These programs employ up to 50,000 healthcare professionals in more than 60 countries, and are a major source of income for the Cuban regime. However, some former participants describe coercion, non-payment of wages, withholding of their passports, and restrictions on their movement. The U.S. State Department has documented indicators of human trafficking in Cuba’s overseas medical missions each year since the 2010 Trafficking in Persons Report (TIP Report), including in the 2019 TIP Report and we remain deeply concerned about these abuses.”

Carrie Filipetti, Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Western Hemisphere Affairs,  said that two Cuban doctors, Dr. Tatiana Carballo, and Dr. Ramona Matos, would discuss their experience in this Cuban program, which allegedly “is not intended to provide support to countries in need, but rather as a manipulative corruption scheme intended to boost revenue for the Cuban regime, all under the guise of humanitarian assistance.” Filipetti further alleged, “The Cuban Government collected revenue for each professional services and paid the worker a mere fraction of the revenue, almost all of which was deposited in a bank account in Cuba, to which they only had access upon completion of their mission and return to Cuba; . . . [The Cuban government] “collected $7.2 billion in a single year from the export of professional services through [this program] and, while those services were ongoing, refused to provide even a living wage to those who were participating in it; that doctors are coerced into the labor program and deprived of their rights and pay while separated from their families in Cuba; [that] they are given no rights to travel; they are forced under Cuban surveillance; and they see retaliatory measures taken against their families should they choose to speak out.”

The Deputy Assistant Secretary then contended that these alleged practices constituted illegal “labor trafficking.” She hoped that this presentation will “inspire countries who have participated in the Cuban doctors program to condition any future participation on direct payments to the doctors and other fair labor practices.  It is clear that anyone who hears these stories and continues to engage with the Cuban doctors program without insisting on fair labor practices is complicit in these crimes.”

Assistant Administrator for USAID’s Bureau for Latin America and the Caribbean, John Barsa, urged “independent journalists, social media, bloggers, inside Cuba and outside Cuba, to try to bring light to this” Cuban program and “civil society groups to support and advocate for” the Cuban professionals.

The U.S. Permanent Representative to the Organization of American States (OAS), Carlos Trujillo, asked for other countries in Latin America to stop participating in the Cuban medical mission program.

John C. Richard, U.S. Ambassador-at-Large, Office To Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons, argued that the Cuban medical mission program was engaging in illegal forced labor as asserted in the U.S. annual reports on that general topic. He also pleaded for host country governments and civil society to examine the practices in Cuba’s medical missions in their countries and ensure the healthcare professionals’ rights are protected.

Dr. Tatianna Carballo, who had worked in Cuba’s medical missions program in Venezuela for seven years and in Brazil when she left the program. She graduated from free Cuban medical education in 1994. In Venezuela, she and other Cuban doctors were under  “military supervision” while being paid only 10 to 15% of the monies paid by Venezuela with the balance sent to accounts in Cuba when and if they returned. But if they did not return, as Dr. Carbello did not, the money in the Cuban account was seized by the government.

In Brazil, she was paid only 20% of the fees paid by Brazil, only some of which was paid directly.

Dr. Ramona Matos was in the program in Bolivia for one month in 2008, where her Cuban passport was seized by a Cuban agent upon arrival in that country. . . where she was assigned to a community at high altitude with attendant medical complications and where she was forced  to prepare false patient records. In 2013 she was in the mission in Brazil, which she later left and forfeited monies in an account in Cuba. Now she is in the U.S. under a U.S. visa under its Cuban medical professional parole system, which no longer is in effect.

Dr. Rusela Sarabia, another Cuban doctor who was in the Venezuela mission, 2011-2014, but did not make a presentation, said in the Q&A session, that she was forced by Cuban agents to tell every patient to support Maduro in the elections and to submit false reports about the number of patients who had voted for Maduro.

Yet another Cuban doctor who did not make a presentation, Dr. Fidel Cruz, but in the Q&A session added that after he left the program, one of his sons, who is a doctor in Cuba could not get a job as a doctor and has to work as an exterminator while his other son, also a doctor, was assigned to work as a doctor in a Cuban small town far from his parents’ home. The father sees his sons’ predicaments as ways to try to silence the father.

Cuba also immediately responded to this U.S. action. Foreign Minister Rodriguez in his previously mentioned address to the U.N. General Assembly said that the “international medical cooperation programs that Cuba shares with tens of developing countries, which are designed the assist  the neediest communities, based on a feeling of solidarity and the free and voluntary will of hundreds of thousands of Cuban professionals, which are being implemented according to the  cooperative agreements that have been signed with the governments of those countries.  They have enjoyed, for many years now, the recognition of the international community, the UN and the World Health Organization for being the best example of   South-South Cooperation.”

Reactions

Sanctions Against Certain Venezuelan Entities and Vessels. According to Reuters, Venezuela’s oil company PDVSA stated on September 25 (the day before the previously mentioned  U.S. announcement) that it intends to increase crude oil shipments to Cuba to help mitigate Cuba’s current fuel shortage. This will involve nine vessels, two of which scheduled to depart from Venezuela this week.[5]

Although this blogger is unable to confirm or deny this purported Venezuelan announcement, this U.S. effort to hamper, if not eliminate, such shipments is clearly designed to harm the Cuban people and economy and is a major factor in Cuba’s current energy and economic difficulties. Therefore, this U.S. sanction is exceedingly unfortunate and should be terminated ASAP.

Castro Travel Ban. When Castro was Cuba’s President, he came to the U.N. General Assembly in New York City, the last time in 2015. Presumably he could still do so under the U.S.-UN Headquarters Agreement unless it does not cover former officials of another country. But to this blogger, it appears very unlikely that Castro has any intent or desire to come to the U.S.

Thus, this ban against him is just a U.S. propaganda ploy. However, this blogger has no knowledge if this U.S. action would adversely affect his four children.

U.S. Campaign Against Cuba’s Foreign Medical Mission Program. As argued in a previous post, the U.S. strenuous and repeated arguments against the Cuban program are based upon the faulty legal premise that the program is engaged in illegal forced labor. The U.S. also ignores the obvious financial incentive for Cuban doctors to leave Cuba and come to the U.S. where they potentially could earn significantly more money.

=============================

[1] State Dep’t, United States Takes Actions Against Entities and Vessels Operating in Venezuela’s Oil Sector (Sept. 24, 2019);Treasury Dep’t, Treasury Further Targets Entities and Vessels Moving Venezuelan Oil to Cuba (Sept. 24, 2019).

[2] Cuba Foreign Ministry, Statement by H.E. Mr. Bruno Rodríguez Parrilla, Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Cuba, at the General Assembly Debate of the Seventy fourth Session of the United Nations General Assembly, September 28, 2019. New York.

[3] State Dep’t, Public Designation of Raul Castro, Due to Involvement in Gross Violations of Human Rights (Sept. 26, 2019); Reuters, U.S. issues travel ban for Cuba’s Castro over human rights accusations, support for Venezuela’s Maduro (Sept.26, 2019); Assoc. Press, US Hits Cuba’s Raul Castro, Family with Travel Ban, N.Y. Times (Sept. 26, 2019); The US veto on Raúl Castro seeks to ‘outrage the dignity of Cuba,’ says Bruno Rodriguez, Diario de Cuba (Sept. 28, 2019).

[4] State Dept, A Call to Action: First-Hand Accounts of Abuses in Cuba’s Overseas  Medical Missions (Sept. 26, 2019); Reuters, U.S. says Cuban medical missions are trafficking doctors (Sept. 26, 2019),.

[5] Reuters, Venezuela doubles down on oil exports to Cuba despite U.S. sanctions—sources (Sept. 25, 2019).

 

State Department’s Announcement of New Sanctions Against Cuba

On April 17, the U.S. announced new sanctions against Cuba. The major change was eliminating the waiver of Title III of the Helms-Burton (LIBERTAD) Act allowing U.S. litigation by U.S. owners of Cuban property that was expropriated by the Cuban government in the early years of the Cuban Revolution. This Act also allows the U.S. to deny or revoke U.S. visas to any person or corporate officer “involved in the confiscation of property or trafficking in confiscated property,” as well as their family members.[1]

State Department’s Announcement of Sanctions[2]

The State Department made the official announcement of this change in remarks to the Press by Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, who said the following:

  • “In 1996, Congress passed the Cuban Liberty and Democratic Solidarity Act, also known as Libertad. Until Title III of that act, United States citizens who had their property confiscated by the Castro regime were given the right to file suit against those who traffic in such properties.”
  • “But those citizens’ opportunities for justice have been put out of reach for more than two decades. For now more than 22 years, every president, every secretary of state has suspended Title III in the hope that doing so would put more pressure on the Cuban regime to transition to democracy.”
  • The “Trump administration recognizes reality. We see clearly that the regime’s repression of its own people and its unrepentant exportation of tyranny in the region has only gotten worse because dictators perceive appeasement as weakness, not strength.”
  • “President Obama’s administration’s game of footsy with the Castros’ junta did not deter the regime from continuing to harass and oppress the heroic Ladies in White, a group of women dedicated to peacefully protesting the regime’s human rights abuses.”
  • “More broadly, the regime continues to deprive its own people of the fundamental freedoms of speech, press, assembly, and association. Indeed, according to NGO reports, Cuban thugs made more than 2,800 arbitrary arrests in 2018 alone. In the run-up to the country’s recent sham constitutional referendum, one that enshrined the Communist Party as the only legal political party in Cuba, the regime harassed, beat, and detained leaders and – opposition leaders and activists. Three hundred and ten people were arbitrarily detained according to the Cuban Commission on Human Rights and National Reconciliation.”
  • “Cuba’s behavior in the Western Hemisphere undermines the security and stability of countries throughout the region, which directly threatens United States national security interests. The Cuban regime has for years exported its tactics of intimidation, repression, and violence. They’ve exported this to Venezuela in direct support of the former Maduro regime. Cuban military intelligence and state security services today keep Maduro in power.”
  • “Sadly, Cuba’s most prominent export these days is not cigars or rum; it’s oppression. Detente with the regime has failed. Cozying up to Cuban dictators will always be a black mark on this great nation’s long record of defending human rights.”
  • “For these reasons, I’m announcing that the Trump administration will no longer suspend Title III. Effective May 2nd, . . . the right to bring an action under Title III of the Libertad Act will be implemented in full. I have already informed Congress of my decision.”
  • “Implementing Title III in full means a chance at justice for Cuban Americans who have long sought relief for Fidel Castro and his lackeys seizing property without compensation. For the first time, claimants will be able to bring lawsuits against persons trafficking in property that was confiscated by the Cuban regime. Any person or company doing business in Cuba should heed this announcement.”
  • “In addition to being newly vulnerable to lawsuits, they could be abetting the Cuban regime’s abuses of its own people. Those doing business in Cuba should fully investigate whether they are connected to property stolen in service of a failed communist experiment. I encourage our friends and allies alike to likewise follow our lead and stand with the Cuban people.”
  • “As I said throughout my trip to South America this last week, the Trump administration is committed to helping grow the wave of democracy, good governments, and openness, which is steadily building throughout the entire Western Hemisphere. On my trip last week, I saw these positive changes firsthand, and told our friends and allies that we’re with them. We’re on the side of what’s right and what is just.”
  • “Today we are holding the Cuban Government accountable for seizing American assets. We are helping those whom the regime has robbed get compensation for their rightful property. And we’re advancing human rights and democracy on behalf of the Cuban people.”

Immediately after the Secretary’s remarks, Kimberly  Breier, Assistant Secretary of State for Western Hemisphere Affairs, responded to journalists’ questions. Here are her significant responses:

  • “[O]bviously we’ve been in very deep and close contact with our allies in Europe and Canada and around the world as we consulted on this decision over the past several months as the Secretary had been shortening the period of suspension with his previous decisions. I think it’s clear if you look in the macro sense we have broad agreement with our allies in Europe and Canada and around the world on the policy objective, which is to promote democracy in Cuba and to free the Cuban people from the tyranny that they live under.”
  • “We are in broad agreement on this. Where we sometimes disagree is on the best way to achieve that. And I think at the end of the day, you’ll need to speak to the European Union and to our allies as to what response they will have, but I would like to emphasize that European companies that are operating in Cuba will have nothing to worry about if they are not operating on property that was stolen from Americans post-revolution. So I think the vast number of European companies will not have any concerns operating in Cuba.”
  • We “took a decision today based on our laws and our sovereign concerns for the property of American citizens and Europeans will respond as they see fit, and we will continue to work closely with them on this policy and on the policy in Venezuela.”
  • The “decision today is part of the trajectory that started with the Trump Administration’s NSPM-5, which was announced in June of 2017.[3]The objective of that was . . . to support the Cuban people and to deny resources to the regime, and in particular to the security services in Cuba. So this is part of a trajectory. We have since published a Cuba restricted list. We have since amended the restricted list several times, and this is part of the trajectory of the administration trying to ensure that we support the people of Cuba and not the regime of Cuba.”
  • The “Secretary’s decision was about the actions of the Cuban regime; certainly, the actions of the Cuban regime in Venezuela are part of the context of the moment in which we are living. And we are very clear, and . . . the Lima Group, which is a group of 12 countries in the Western Hemisphere, for the very first time this week announced its concern over Cuba’s role in Caracas and made public its concern, and called on the Cuban regime to support the transition in Caracas. So I think it’s a very important moment in our relations in the hemisphere as well.”
  • Over “the past two years building off of NSPM-5 and looking at the various tools that we have to implement the President’s vision for how we would conduct this policy. I think you’re going to be seeing quite a bit more from us, and that this is the beginning of a new process on this that recognizes the reality on the ground in Cuba, which is in the past 20-plus years the underlying reality in Cuba has not changed for the average Cuban..[There was no direct response to the question about whether the U.S. was considering t returning Cuba to the State Sponsors of Terrorism list.[4]]
  • “There will not be any exemptions [from this new sanction for any U.S. company doing business in Cuba].” (Emphasis added.)
  • The “Foreign Claims Settlement Commission . . . has certified nearly 6,000 claims for property confiscated in Cuba with a total value of approximately 2 billion. With interest, we believe that value is somewhere in the $8 billion range. The most recent estimate we have from 1996, at the time that the law was enacted, that there could be up to 200,000 uncertified claims that were not certified by the Foreign Claims Settlement Commission, and that value could very easily be in the tens of billions of dollars. But it will depend on, of course, whether claimants decide to pursue legal cases or not.”[5]

The day before the official announcement in an embargoed briefing for journalists, an unidentified senior State Department official said that foreigners who have been trafficking in such properties  have “had over 20 years of profiting from property stolen from American citizens.”

Hints of This and Other Anti-Cuba Measures[6]

For the last several weeks the Administration has been hinting that more anti-Cuba measures were coming.

One such  hint came from Vice President Mike Pence at a U.N. Security council meeting on April 10, when he said, “For decades, Cuba has tried to create client states across our region.  While normal countries export goods, Cuba exports tyranny and strong-arm tactics.  Even now, Cuban military and intelligence services train and support and equip Venezuela’s secret police as they silence opponents, jail and torture members of the opposition.” Pence added, “Last week, the United States took action to sanction ships transporting Venezuelan oil to Cuba.  And soon, at President Trump’s direction, the United States will announce additional action to hold Cuba accountable for its malign influence in Venezuela.” (Emphasis added.)

 Two days later, President Trump issued his Proclamation on Pan American Day and Pan American Week, which said, in part, “Sadly, the people of Cuba, Venezuela, and Nicaragua continue to live under tyranny and authoritarianism.  The brutality and corruption of the illegitimate former regime in Venezuela has crippled the country and brought it to ruin.  We must not forget that the struggle is one between dictatorship and democracy, between oppression and freedom, and between continued suffering for millions of Venezuelans and an opportunity for a renewed future of freedom and prosperity.  The community of democracies in our Western Hemisphere must continue to support the people of Venezuela, Cuba, and Nicaragua as they fight for the restoration of democracy and liberty. (Emphases added.)

Another tip came from the State Department when it announced that  that the U.S. was adding four companies and nine vessels  to the list of Venezuelan companies  that were sanctioned for transporting oil to Cuba.[7] The Department also said the U.S.“will continue to do all we can to stand up against Cuba’s support for the former Maduro regime and its hostility to the Venezuelan people’s aspiration to a peaceful, prosperous, democratic future. Cuba’s intervention only seeks to delay the inevitable—the peaceful transition back to freedom and democracy that is underway in Venezuela, led by the Venezuelan people, Interim President Juan Guaido, and the National Assembly.”  (Emphasis added.)

Another hint came directly from Secretary Pompeo on April 14 in a speech in Cucata, Colombia, when he said, “ “Cubans must understand too that there will be cost associated with continued support of Nicolas Maduro.”  (Emphasis added.)

Conclusion

Later the same day (April 17), U.S. National Security Advisor John Bolton in a speech in Miami addressed these new sanctions and other santi-Cuba measures that will be discussed in a subsequent post. Another post will review the responses to these new measures from the U.S., Cuba, Europe and Canada.

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[1]  Baker, Trump to Increase Pressure on Cuba by Lifting Lawsuit Limits, N.Y. Times (April 16, 2019); Reuters, In Major Shift, Trump to Allow Lawsuits Against Foreign Firms, N.Y. Times (April 16, 2019); Assoc. Press, Trump to Allow Lawsuits Over US Properties Seized in Cuba, N.Y. Times (April 16, 2019); DeYoung, Trump administration will allow U.S. citizens to sue over property seized after 1959,  Wash. Post (April 16, 2019).

[2] State Dep’t, [Secretary Pompeo’s] Remarks to the Press (April 17, 2019); State Dep’t, Briefing With Assistant Secretary for Western Hemisphere Affairs, Kimberly Breier (April 17, 2019).

[3] NSPM refers to National Security Presidential Memorandum on Strengthening the Policy of the United States Toward Cuba (June 16, 2017). See President Trump Announces Reversal of Some Cuba Normalization Policies, dwkcommentaries.com (June 19, 2017).

[4] See posts listed in the “Cuba: State Sponsor of Terrorism?” section of List of Posts to dwkcommentaries—Topical: CUBA.

[5]  See Resolution of U.S. and Cuba Damage Claims, dwkcommentaries.com (April 6, 2015).

[6] White House, Remarks by Vice President Pence at a Special Session of the United Nations Security Council  on the Crisis in Venezuela/New York, NY (April 10, 2019); White House,  Proclamation on Pan American Day and Pan American Week (April 15, 2019); State Dep’t, The United States Takes Action To End Cuba’s Malign Influence on Venezuela (April 12, 2019).