Senior members of the Trump administration have recently stepped up their rhetoric against Cuba, and President Donald Trump joked last week that the U.S. Navy would attack the communist island after completing its operation against Iran.
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio also told reporters at the White House on Tuesday that Cuba was a “failed regime” run by “incompetent communists,” while dismissing the significance of the months-long U.S. fuel blockade on the island nation of 10 million people.
But the threat is not merely rhetorical. President Trump also signed an executive order introducing additional sanctions against the Cuban government.
These measures target government officials deemed to work in the security, energy, defense, financial services and mining sectors of the Cuban economy. The order also authorized secondary sanctions against persons accused of facilitating transactions with these officials.
This weekend’s announcement is the latest in a series of punitive measures the United States has introduced against the island since the beginning of the year.
In addition to restricting the island’s oil supplies, the United States declared Cuba a special threat to U.S. national security and pressured regional countries to cancel a decades-old health care agreement with Cuba.
Domestic attempts to prevent military action fail
However, some Democratic lawmakers have urged the Trump administration to exercise restraint toward Cuba.
Last week, the Republican-controlled Senate blocked a Democratic-backed resolution that would have blocked President Trump from authorizing military action against Cuba without congressional approval.
The resolution was defeated 51 to 47, with all senators voting along party lines except Republican Senators Rand Paul and Susan Collins, who supported the resolution, and Democrat John Fetterman, who opposed it.
This isn’t the first time Democrats have tried to circumvent Congress and limit Trump’s ability to authorize military action abroad. The U.S. Senate has rejected a resolution seeking to block U.S. military action against Venezuela and further action in Iran.
Democratic Senator Tim Kaine cited the economic blockade as a key reason for supporting the resolution and said the sanctions amounted to an “act of war.”
Republican Senator Rick Scott, who has been an outspoken supporter of U.S.-backed changes to the island’s political system, introduced a motion to halt adoption of the resolution.
Representative Scott argued that the resolution was unnecessary because President Trump has not deployed troops to the island so far, but insisted, “President Trump is doing everything he can to restore freedom and democracy across Latin America, and we must do everything we can to support him.”
The possibility of political conflict increases
The Cuban and U.S. governments are currently negotiating a potential solution to the escalating tensions between the two countries, but sources close to the Trump administration’s negotiating team say the U.S. sees the removal of current Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel as key to a successful deal.
However, the Cuban government has emphasized its opposition to any form of US-led political change in the country. Diaz-Canel told NBC that under no circumstances would he back down due to U.S. pressure.
Given this political deadlock, the Trump administration’s recent escalation in rhetoric, and the U.S. Senate’s failure to limit Trump’s ability to attack the island, a U.S.-led attempt to force change in the political system seems increasingly likely.
Stephanie Cepero, co-founder of the Florida-based Cuban dissident organization cuba freedom marchtalk to Latin America Report She discusses the impact of recent Senate rulings and increased U.S. sanctions, and her hopes for comprehensive political change.
“By blocking GAESA (the Cuban military conglomerate that controls much of the Cuban economy), directly sanctioning Díaz-Canel, and cutting off the regime’s access to hard currency, you are hitting those responsible, not those who are suffering,” Cepero argued.
Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodríguez Parrilla disagreed, calling the sanctions “illegal and degrading” and amounting to “collective punishment of the Cuban people.”
Cepero also characterized the Senate ruling as “the right outcome,” accusing supporters of the Democratic-led resolution of trying to “tie the president’s hands at a moment when American influence over the government is much stronger than it has been in decades.”
“One of the reasons the Cuban dictatorship has survived for more than 60 years is because of predictable and ruthless U.S. policy. Uncertainty is a tool. Removing it earlier would have been a gift to Havana, not the Cuban people.”
Many members of the large Florida-based Cuban American community have long pressured successive U.S. administrations to take more decisive action against the Cuban state, citing human rights abuses, imprisonment of dissidents and restrictions on civil liberties.
Cepero believes that given the Trump administration’s current harsh stance toward the Cuban government, the change the Cuban-American constituency has long sought could be imminent.
“The U.S. administration’s willingness to keep the pressure firm and unblinking creates real conditions for change… The pressure must continue and intensify until there is meaningful, verifiable political change on the island. Incomplete measures and relief valves will only delay the inevitable. The Cuban people deserve freedom now,” the dissident concluded.
But the Cuban government has pledged to resist any attempts to force political change on the island. Díaz-Canel warned that millions of Cubans, including himself, were willing to give their lives to resist America’s attacks on Cuba and the revolution.
Featured Image: Pro-Trump Cuban Americans celebrate their first inauguration in 2017.
Image source: VOA via Wikimedia Commons
patent: Creative Commons License
