Trump Plan for Relations with Cuba

After 55 years of isolation between the United States and Cuba,  President Barack Obama sought to reunite the two nations by easing travel bans, business bans, and trade embargos between the two countries. Under the Obama administration, embassies in Washington and Havana reopened in 2015. Exceptions to the trade embargo were made allowing the direct financing of certain exports into Cuba allowing American dollars to be used. A policy called the “wet foot, dry foot” policy which allowed for Cubans who fled Cuba and came onto American soil to pursue legal residency, was ended.

President Obama allowed Americans making educational or cultural trips to Cuba to make their own travel plans without special permission from the U.S. government and the guidance of a licensed tour company as long as American travelers kept records of their trip for at least five years afterward. Americans were also allowed to do business with companies in Cuba, many of which are controlled by the Cuban military including hotels.

President Trump is set to a announce his plan for Cuba which is expected to keep embassies open in Washington and Havana, keep direct financing of certain exports, and will not restore the “wet foot, dry foot” policy. However, Mr. Trump will end the rule Mr. Obama put in place allowing for educational and cultural trips without permission for the U.S. government or accompaniment of a licensed tour company. Mr. Trump will also stop businesses between Americans and companies in Cuba controlled by the military.

The administration believes that allowing for business between Americans and the Cuban military empowers their government and human rights abuses. The Trump administration will lay out conditions for Cuba to follow in order for sanctions to be lifted. This includes holding free and fair elections, releasing political prisoners and allowing Cubans to be paid directly.

Those in support of Trump’s plan include the Cuban-American exile community in Miami which supported President Trump in his election to the presidency. The community is deeply opposed to the Obama administration’s approach to trying to establish a connection between the countries. Jorge Mas, the president of the Cuban American National Foundation, a Cuban exile group, said of Trump’s plan “this is going to have a dampening effect, but so be it. The Cuban government’s behavior has to change, and they will now understand the cost of not changing behavior.”

Cuban-American Republicans in Congress including Senator Marco Rubio and Senator Mario Diaz-Balart of Florida have also been strong backers of Trump’s plan to reinstate stricter sanctions on Cuba. However, Senator Diaz-Balart believes that the Trump administration should push restrictions even further.  

Benjamin J. Rhodes, former deputy of national security under President Obama, it a critic of Mr. Trump’s plan. “For nothing more than a partial rollback, Trump has made us the bad guy again. They are not going as far as the real hard line, but they are going far enough to cause damage,” he said.

Another critic was James Williams, the president of Engage Cuba, a pro-engagement group, who said “the idea that after 55 years of failure, going back to isolationist policies will produce any results is insane.”

Daniel Wilkinson, the managing director of the Americas division at Human Rights Watch said, “the Cuban government was able to use the old policy as an excuse for all the problems on the island and as a pretext for repression. It’s true the repressive system in Cuba has not changed, but the fact that two years of a different policy didn’t change things isn’t a reason to go back to one that was a clear failure for decades.”

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