The U.S. appears to be like set to have its first-ever Cuban American secretary of state in 2025, after President-elect Donald Trump nominated U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida for the function. However don’t count on that to imply cozier relations between Havana and Washington.
Rubio, who if confirmed by the Senate can even be the primary Latino to carry the publish, is without doubt one of the most hawkish members of Congress on the subject of the communist-run island. Certainly, one latest profile of Trump’s choose for prime diplomat described Rubio as “Cuba’s worst nightmare.”
So how will Rubio’s antipathy for the communist authorities in Cuba – alongside Trump’s need to be seen as a dealmaker – have an effect on U.S.-Cuban ties?
As a historian of U.S.-Cuban relations, I do know that ties between the 2 nations have been fraught for greater than 60 years.
After overthrowing U.S.-supported dictator Fulgencio Batista in 1959, Fidel Castro nationalized U.S.-owned property and have become an ally of the Soviet Union in opposition to america. He additionally supported left-wing revolutions in Latin America and Africa,difficult U.S. international pursuits.
In response, successive U.S. presidents have prohibited commerce with Cuba and most journey to the island by U.S. residents for the reason that Sixties.
There was a short thaw in relations in the course of the Obama administration.
However Trump reinstated the U.S.’s coverage of confrontation with Cuba between 2016 to 2020 – a interval marked by a tightened embargo on the island and elevated rancor between Washington and Havana.
That will properly occur once more underneath Trump’s second administration – however that isn’t sure. There may be additionally the potential for adjustments in U.S.-Cuban relations. Maybe, even, there are causes to consider the dynamic might enhance.
From thaw to Cuban chill
Little doubt, Trump and Rubio are critics of Havana’s communist authorities.
Rubio’s household emigrated from Cuba to the U.S. within the Fifties earlier than the triumph of Castro’s revolution in 1959.
As senator, he has opposed any loosening of both the U.S. commerce embargo with Cuba or journey restrictions on U.S. residents wishing to go to the island.
Cubans in Miami exhibit in opposition to their authorities on July 17, 2021.
Eva Marie Uzcategui/AFP by way of Getty Photos
When the Obama administration started establishing formal diplomatic relations with Cuba in 2014, for instance, Rubio was among the many plan’s most vocal critics.
As a part of this thaw, President Barack Obama additionally loosened journey restrictions, eliminated Cuba from the State Division’s listing of countries that sponsor terrorism, and made it simpler for People to ship cash to relations in Cuba.
Trump reversed these insurance policies after coming into the White Home in 2017.
Although the administration by no means severed diplomatic relations, Trump’s State Division primarily closed the embassy in Havana and stopped the processing of visas for Cubans wishing to journey to the U.S.
His administration additionally positioned Cuba as soon as extra on the listing of nation’s that sponsor terrorism.
Reportedly, Cuba was not excessive on the listing of Trump’s priorities in his first time period, not like immigration. However he did want to fulfill the calls for of Rubio and his Cuban American constituents in South Florida who strongly favored a tricky line in opposition to Havana.
And as a senator, Rubio has been Cuban People’ foremost advocate and Cuba’s principal antagonist within the U.S. Congress.
Trump’s subsequent strikes
Although his stance on Cuba was much less daring than Obama’s, President Joe Biden lessened some restrictions imposed by the primary Trump administration.
His administration, for instance, made it simpler to ship cash to Cuba, together with different adjustments ostensibly designed to help the Cuban folks, not the Cuban state. The U.S. embassy additionally started processing visas.
The embargo, nevertheless, remained enforced and untouched.
It’s affordable to imagine that Trump will reverse Biden’s tentative measures. If the previous affords any information, the American embassy might scale back its operations and with it droop the processing of visa functions. Trump has additionally vowed to get rid of the humanitarian parole program via which no less than 100,000 Cubans have been capable of enter the U.S. legally.
However there are limits to what the Trump administration can – or feels it could possibly – do to punish Cuba.
Regardless of most favoring the embargo, a big minority of the Cuban émigré neighborhood nonetheless need to ship cash to their households in Cuba and go to their family members when potential.
And although a majority of Cuban People voted for Trump, most additionally need to proceed humanitarian parole.
Cuban army personnel carry caricatures of Donald Trump in the course of the Might Day parade in Havana, Cuba, in 2019.
Sven Creutzmann/Mambo picture/Getty Photos
Moscow’s transfer in Havana
However appeasing Cuban People is only one concern for Trump. Different geopolitical elements may additionally affect U.S. coverage.
Russia, for instance, is making elevated investments in Cuba and easing its power shortages, whereas reopening no less than one Chilly Conflict-era base.
Given Havana’s long-standing ties with Moscow and the truth that each nations are remoted by parts of the worldwide neighborhood, this closeness is comprehensible – and Trump’s acknowledged admiration of President Vladimir Putin might mitigate concern in Washington.
China, nevertheless, could be one other matter.
President Xi Jinping’s authorities is making investments and looking for bases in Cuba, a part of a sample of China’s elevated engagement all through Latin America.
Previously, Trump has taken delight in his willingness to problem China. Cuba may get caught within the crossfire.
However Trump’s previous dealings with one other pariah state permits for the intriguing risk of a distinct course on Cuba.
U.S. relations with North Korea, like these with Cuba, are a remnant of the Chilly Conflict. For higher than half a century, U.S. coverage has forbidden commerce, journey and even diplomatic relations with the hermit kingdom, a lot because it has with Cuba.
However that didn’t cease Trump from partaking with the communist state’s chief.
Throughout his first time period, he met thrice with President Kim Jong Un – in Vietnam, Singapore and even the Demilitarized Zone straddling North Korea and South Korea.
The artwork of the deal, Cuban-style
As the instance of North Korea makes clear, Trump enjoys taking part in the rule-breaking dealmaker on the worldwide stage.
He additionally envies Obama’s Nobel Peace Prize, which he gained in 2009, stating that he believes he deserves one.
And there’s a deal available with Havana, one that might finish the U.S. embargo in return for reparations for American-based homeowners of property expropriated in the course of the Cuban Revolution.
After all, not like North Korea, Cuba will not be a nuclear energy and it can’t use threats of nuclear struggle to deliver U.S. diplomats to the desk. However being so near the Florida coast – simply 90 miles away – it could possibly use the specter of China or Russian bases as a bargaining chip.
What’s extra, earlier than changing into president, Trump’s document on Cuba was inconsistent. In 1999, he condemned the late chief Fidel Castro as a dictator, however in both late 2012 or early 2013, staff of the Trump Group reportedly visited Cuba to scout potential areas for golf programs, motels and casinos.
Whereas working for president in 2015, Trump acknowledged that he was “fine” with Obama’s Cuban coverage and “somewhere in the middle” between Obama and Rubio relating to Cuba.
Trump’s exhausting line on Cuba appeared solely in September 2016, when his marketing campaign in opposition to Hillary Clinton took him to Miami in the hunt for Florida’s electoral votes.
A brand new chapter within the chilly struggle?
Actually for now, Havana is making ready for yet one more, extra unpleasant chapter within the U.S.—Cuban Chilly Conflict.
However Trump is unpredictable. Provided that he won’t ever once more run for president, he has much less incentive to appease Cuban People and as an alternative might look to safe a legacy for himself overseas.
Cuba watchers akin to myself ought to no less than entertain the likelihood that relations between the U.S. and Cuba could also be very completely different 4 years from now.
