With Trump, The Hard-Handed Approach to Cuba Returns
By Francisco Acevedo
HAVANA TIMES – Not even two weeks into his term, Donald Trump already has the Cuban government in turmoil with his first measures aimed at cutting funds to the dictatorship and tightening border control and travel restrictions.
Since the outgoing president Joe Biden’s administration reversed its 2017 decision to include Cuba on the list of State Sponsors of Terrorism, as soon as Trump stepped into the White House, he re-included Cuba.
This week, several specific cases were highlighted to justify that position, such as those of Joanne Chesimard, also known as Assata Shakur, and William Morales.
The former, a member of the Black Liberation Army, is wanted for the murder of a state police officer in New Jersey in 1973, and after escaping prison in 1979, has lived in Cuba ever since.
The latter, linked to the Puerto Rican nationalist group Fuerzas Armadas de Liberación Nacional (FALN), is responsible for a series of bombings, including the tragic bombing of the Fraunces Tavern in New York in 1975, which left four dead and dozens injured.
Morales managed to escape justice after being arrested in 1979 for possession of explosives and formed a family in Cuba after fleeing from justice.
This is just to mention those related to events that occurred on US soil because there are many more cases related to logistical support and training to Latin American armed groups since the 1960s, as well as asylum granted to other figures with terrorist backgrounds from around the world.
In a public act, Secretary of State Marco Rubio referred to the approximately 70 fugitives estimated to reside in Cuba, protected by the regime. These include not only US criminals but also members of organizations such as Colombia’s Ejercito de Liberación Nacional (ELN) and other Latin American insurgent groups.
The extradition of these fugitives seems unlikely in the short term, as Cuban authorities have never shown willingness in this regard.
This Friday, the Trump administration took another step and announced the restoration of Title III of the Helms-Burton Act, which Biden had also annulled. This measure, in addition to reinforcing the economic siege on state funds, endorses the right to international claims from individuals or companies over confiscations that occurred in the last century.
Among other things, sanctions were reaffirmed on entities directly or indirectly related to the government, with a list that also added Orbit, S.A., a company processing remittances to Cuba because, according to reports, it “operates for or on behalf of the Cuban military.”
It’s worth remembering that during his first term (2017-2021), Trump imposed at least 243 restrictive measures that strengthened the persecution of the dictatorship’s finances, and some were relaxed under Biden.
The secret military control over the country’s main resources, especially those related to foreign exchange, is nothing new, and often not done covertly. For several years, for example, the tourist hub of Varadero has been managed by the military, without accountability to the Comptroller or the Attorney General’s Office.
In particular, the remittance transfers, which represent billions of dollars each year, are the most coveted resource for the dictatorship. Therefore, most Cuban-Americans currently prefer to send cash with airline passengers who carry it directly to the island and deliver it to their families.
Orbit S.A. was created after the Trump administration imposed sanctions on its predecessor, Fincimex, in 2020, because it was part of the state-owned CIMEX, which according to reports published this week, provides detailed monthly reports to the senior leaders of the GAESA military consortium about the money transfers processed by Orbit.
In fact, Orbit is currently managed by Diana Rosa Rodriguez Perez, former executive vice president of GAESA and former vice president of CIMEX, so the speculation does not seem far from the truth.
The goal is to reinforce the isolation of the Cuban regime within the global banking system, making it harder for them to access credit, trade relations, and external financing, which further impacts their already weakened economy.
Although the restriction also affects the Cuban population, which now must resort to informal methods to receive financial aid from relatives abroad, the US aim is to halt the flow of money that fuels the Cuban government’s repressive machinery.
On the other hand, Rubio stated that the US embassy in Havana is meeting with the families of dissidents and other individuals prosecuted for political reasons, “to let them know that the United States supports them unconditionally.”
Since returning to the presidency, Trump also signed an executive order that eliminated the humanitarian parole program, which allowed safe legal entry to the US with temporary residence permits for citizens from Cuba, Venezuela, Nicaragua, and Haiti.
The program, which was temporarily suspended due to numerous irregularities, affected over half a million Cubans who had already been approved or were in the process of applying, leaving them with no immediate legal options to emigrate.
Likewise, many who were already in the US under this status will have to find other ways to regularize their situation, such as through the Cuban Adjustment Act.
The suspension of grants and federal funding to foreign aid programs is also up in the air, which affects non-governmental organizations and independent Cuban media that depend on these funds.
At the moment, a federal judge temporarily blocked this suspension, but it could take effect at any time.
The big question is whether this financial blockade will accelerate real change on the island or if the regime will, once again, adapt and survive international pressure.
The answer, only time will tell, but as things stood, nothing was achieved. It was the right time to try new things, and although this certainly complicates the situation of ordinary Cubans, if it bears fruit in the long term, the sacrifice will have been worth it. After all, the government has been demanding sacrifice from the population for over 60 years without showing results.