Tillerson signals tough Trump administration stance on Cuba

The sun sets on the rooftops of the Old City
The sun sets on the rooftops of the Old City
Author

26 June, 2017

That would be the "nuclear option", the Cuban official said.

In the first five months of this year, about 284,500 US citizens visited Cuba under 12 USA government-permitted categories that include people-to-people contacts, academic, cultural, and educational exchanges.

"I think Trump will change the policy and we will go back to the past".

Trump tomorrow is expected to announce measures reversing some USA efforts to reconcile with communist-governed island. Scaling back US relations with Cuba and withdrawing from the Paris climate accord will allow nations like China and Russian Federation to fill the leadership void.

President Barack Obama used executive orders to loosen embargoed travel and some trade with Cuba.

The U.S. Embassy in Havana is expected to remain open but will continue without an ambassador.

On the economic front, business interests on both sides of the Florida Straits are wary of a return to a rigorous enforcement of the still-active USA sanctions legislation. He also earned the endorsement of the Bay of Pigs Veterans Association in Miami, and some political analysts have credited his support from the Cuban exile community in South Florida with Trump's critical win in Florida in November. "It will be more hard for Americans to come to Cuba and we may see a return to confrontation, although I hope common sense prevails", Emilio de Leon, a Cuban-American, told Xinhua. Rep. Mario Diaz-Balart openly acknowledges that he extracted assurances from Trump that he would get tougher on Cuba before he, the congressman, would agree to support the president's unpopular health care overhaul.

After a long line of questions about Trump's private conversations with Comey, Rubio quickly changed the subject to the problem of leaks to the media.

Asked about plans to change the USA policy toward Cuba, which Trump may announce during a visit to Miami on Friday, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said the idea was still under review but signaled changes were coming. "But Tillerson said that United States government sees 'troubling" elements in the diplomatic relation passed by former President Barack Obama (2009-2017), which he justified on the issue of human rights.

That would be meant to press Raul Castro's government toward democratic reform and appease Cuban-American voters, many of whom fled communist rule.

Unfortunately, neither Obama's December 2014 opening to Cuba nor Trump's 2017 partial reversal of that policy were motivated by a desire to bring about democracy in Cuba. Jeff Flake, Mike Enzi and John Boozman wrote in a letter to Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and National Security Advisor H.R. McMaster.

The results have been uneven. A recent report by the Boston Consulting Group said U.S. visitors to Cuba could rise by as much as sevenfold by 2025. An educated generation now rises to power yearning for more. American visits would likely drop, hurting both US airlines and accommodation services operating there, as well as the Cuban tourism industry.

"A first step should be to ban financial transactions with the Cuban military", he said. In addition to rolling back business ties between the two countries, especially those involving the Cuban military, he could also re-impose some limits on U.S.travel to the island.

Many Cubans, like Coba, had been banking on the number of American arrivals continuing to grow.


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