On May 10, 2024, the U.S. State Department published a Reviewed and Updated Integrated Country Strategy for Cuba (and other countries in the world). For Cuba It listed the following Chief of Mission Priorities: (1) Ensuring Consistent American Citizen Services; (2) Supporting Human Rights; (3) Encouraging an Empowered, Innovative, and Inclusive Cuban Society; (4) Protecting the Security of the United States and its Citizens; and (5) Building a Management Platform to Best Support U.S. goals and Future Mission Growth.[1]
Supporting Human Rights (Cuba)
“A generational transition to a post-Cuban Revolution leadership has failed to create significant changes: the Cuban government continues to use repressive measures, including incarceration, coercive economic policies, and misinformation to suppress the Cuban peoples’ freedoms. Approximately 1,000 political prisoners remain unjustly imprisoned in Cuba. Cuban authorities regularly harass, imprison, or force into exile those who express dissenting opinions.”
“In an environment where the state has criminalized dissent, the embassy continuously seeks to advance the cause of human rights in Cuba and hold the Cuban government accountable for its dismal human rights record. The Mission engages regularly with human rights activists, dissidents, and members of civil society, and we will continue to support independent media, access to information, and capacity building for independent civil society organizations. Additionally. the Embassy regularly presses the Cuban government for the release of political prisoners and works with the press and nongovernmental organizations to shed light on the lack of fundamental freedoms in Cuba.”
Encouraging an Empowered, Innovative, and Inclusive Cuban Society
“Cuba is experiencing the worst economic crisis in its history. Food scarcity, electricity and water shortages, and inflation make life difficult for Cubans. Incremental reforms of Cuba’s centrally planned economy – including the legal recognition of micro, small, and medium enterprises – have been insufficient to align Cuba’s economic needs with the realities of doing business in a global economy. The Embassy will continue to seek new ways to engage Cuba’s independent economic actors, foster Cuba’s entrepreneurial eco-system, while expanding outreach to improve the economic outlook for Afro- Cubans, women, and other historically disadvantaged groups.”
Reactions
These two Chief of Mission Priorities are worthy of support. It, however, was surprising at first glance that there was no mention of the problems created for Cuba by the U.S. embargo and listing Cuba as a state sponsor of terrorism. But those are U.S. actions in Washington, D.C. by the President, Congress and State Department; they are not actions for the U.S. Embassy in Cuba.
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[1] State Dep’t, Integrated Country Strategies, Reviewed and Updated (May 10, 2024). It, therefore, supersedes the Department’s Integrated Country Strategy for Cuba (and other countries in the world) that was undated but released in February 2024 and that was discussed in a prior post, U.S. State Department’s Integrated Country Strategy for Cuba, dwkcommentaries.com (Feb. 16, 2024).