By Alejandra Garcia on August 1, 2021
photo: Abel Rojas Barallobre
US President Joe Biden proved again that his political agenda towards Cuba is very similar to that of his predecessor Donald Trump. On Friday afternoon, the head of the White House received a group of Cuban emigrants, promoters of the change of government in Cuba, to outline the guidelines that his administration should follow towards the Caribbean country in the months to come.
“I want Cuban-Americans to know that we feel your pain, and we hear your voices and cries for freedom coming from the island,” Biden said in his presentation to the Cuban-Americans. It should be remembered that Biden campaigned on the hollow pledge to reverse the failed policies of Trump that, “inflicted harm on Cubans and their families.”
The US leader opened the doors of the White House to nine guests, including Emilio Estefan, a Miami-based music producer; Los Orishas singer Yotuel Romero, author of the Patria y Vida song that has reportedly has become the “anthem” of the Cuban right-wing; and former Miami Mayor Manny Diaz.
In his dialogue with this small group, he claimed his guests were the “most experienced ones” on Cuba-related issues and repeated to exhaustion his condemnation of the Cuban government’s “repression” of the July 11 demonstrations on the island.
“We will seek measures that support the people of Cuba, and we will hold the regime accountable,” he added.
But what is Biden hiding beneath this supposed and sudden interest in Cuban dissidence? Why is he receiving these so-called “experts” while leaving out of the dialogue representatives of Cuba solidarity groups in the US such as The People’s Forum and the Alliance for Cuba Engagement and Respect (ACERE), the National Network on Cuba (NNOC) and many others? Why does he claim he wants to help the Cuban people but insists on expanding sanctions against the country?
It is no coincidence that a few hours before the meeting, he announced new measures against Cuba’s National Revolutionary Police (PNR) under the pretext of the alleged “massive detentions, misleading trials and disappearances” that followed the revolts.
The sanction follows those launched last week against the Minister of the Revolutionary Armed Forces (FAR) Alvaro Lopez-Miera, and the military unit of the “Black Berets (Avispas Negras).”
Amid the apparent concern towards Cubans, Biden is determined to punish the island’s leaders. He also insists on remaining silent in the face of international demands to lift the blockade, reestablish diplomatic offices in both countries, allow sending remittances to the neighboring country and remove Cuba from the list of nations sponsoring terrorism.
He has also not spoken out about the demonstrators in Miami who called for military intervention in Cuba following the July 11 riots that involved Florida-based companies.
Everything points to the fact that Biden’s real intentions are not to help Cuba but to win over Trump’s remaining followers in Florida. For Cuba, the hostility that the former Republican president maintained against the island remains intact.
“Democrats insist on trying to compete for the vote of the 1.5 million Cuban-Americans who elected Trump in 2020. It’s part of their strategy for the next election,” highlighted La Jornada’s New York correspondent David Brooks.
Cuba is a unique case in US history. Every president in office, regardless of a political party, has always consulted with the Cuban diaspora in his territory to develop their policy towards the island.
Even more remarkable is that this diaspora is designated as the direct interlocutor between Washington and the needs of the Cuban people in abstensia.
David Brooks believes that this relationship reaffirms that, for the U.S. government, “Cuban-Americans are better ambassadors for freedom and prosperity in Cuba than Cuba’s own leaders.”
Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez also described Biden’s motives in his counterattack toward the Island. “The U.S. president’s meeting with Cuban annexationists is a farce to justify their regime-change operation against Cuba. Washington is only interested in the electoral machinery that is Florida, while it ignores the demands of the Cuban people, its Cuban and American voters, and the world.”
Meanwhile, the island remains at peace and struggling with the hardest moments of the pandemic. This Sunday, health authorities reported 87 people dead, over 9,000 infected, and some 40,000 hospitalized. Meanwhile, the US blockade turns this humanitarian situation into a nightmare for the Cuban people. Obviously, this does not matter to the man who came to the White House claiming to be a decent man.
Source: Resumen Latinoamericano – English