“The White House is finally paying attention”: Cuban protests are forcing Biden to do so

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But over the weekend, the communist-run island nation became an inescapable topic. Thousands of Cubans took to the streets on Sunday to protest food and medicine shortages amid a deepening economic crisis, while calling for an end to their 62-year dictatorship. And while Biden has expressed support for the protesters, calling the protests a “clear plea for freedom,” much of his policy toward Cuba remains ambiguous.

Will Biden encourage more demonstrations? Does his team support adding new sanctions or maintaining Trump-era sanctions? Is the idea of ​​strengthening diplomatic and commercial relations out of the question now? The White House’s painstaking review of Cuba policy now risks being overtaken by current events.

“The easy political thing to do is issue demands for freedom from America without doing anything,” said Ben Rhodes, who served as a senior aide to former President Barack Obama and helped craft the Obama administration’s diplomatic opening to Cuba. “I don’t think that’s the approach that would be constructive here.”

The protests in Cuba were another example of the Biden administration being forced by the facts on the ground to address an issue after trying not to prioritize it. Earlier this year, Biden and his aides found themselves struggling to deal with clashes between Israel and Palestinian militants after signaling a desire to reduce US involvement in this long-running conflict.

The questions about Cuba policy come as Biden has left the Trump campaign to heavy pressure and severe sanctions against the Cuban regime, despite campaign promises to the contrary.

And they came as concerns grew within the White House about Cuba in recent days, according to two people in contact with administration officials. Before the protests, US officials were looking at what they could do to ease the suffering of the Cuban people, one of those, an analyst in Cuba, told Politico. This included the possibility of easing travel restrictions as well as restrictions on people’s ability to send money to relatives and others on the island – changes that Biden himself discussed during the election campaign.

“They are concerned about the humanitarian crisis unfolding in Cuba and the possibility of it spilling over into a migration crisis,” said the analyst, who spoke on condition of anonymity to describe the sensitive conversations. “I know the White House is finally paying attention.”

In recent months, the number of Cuban immigrants by land and sea has increased significantly. More than 500 Cuban immigrants have been intercepted and repatriated this fiscal year, up from 49 in 2020 and 313 in 2019, according to the US Coast Guard.

Some Republicans, including Florida Senator Marco Rubio, have expressed concern that the Cuban government will start encouraging mass immigration to the United States, as it did in 1994 when Cuba last saw large-scale protests. However, Cuban-American experts say that the level of immigration by sea is less likely this time, since Washington no longer has an immigration policy in place that welcomes Cubans upon their arrival on US soil.

So far, some of Biden’s biggest allies on Capitol Hill have supported his move to keep Trump-era sanctions and restrictions in place.

The system needs to understand this change [in Cuba] It will bring about a change in sanctions” — not a change in who holds the US presidency, Senator Bob Menendez (DN.J.) said, adding that it was important that Biden not weaken sanctions.

Menendez, chair of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, defended the US administration for not making Cuba a foreign policy priority, saying it was “understandable” given the ongoing challenges with China, Russia and Iran.

“But now that the Cuban people are out on the streets, I think the administration will have to look at the options they can exercise to support the Cuban people,” Menendez said, noting that he has been in contact with administration officials and they already have a list of his policy proposals that are under consideration.

Others who are watching the situation closely are concerned that the protests will reduce the likelihood that the Biden administration will roll back the restrictions of the Trump era. They say Biden’s ability to maneuver on Cuba policy will become more constrained as the 2022 midterm elections approach.

“They are not going to make themselves politically vulnerable by lifting sanctions, and rolling back Trump’s policies, when Republicans immediately ring in and say they are a gift to the Cuban regime,” said Michael Schefter, chairman. Dialogue between Americans.

Biden’s domestic considerations surfaced on Sunday as hundreds of Cuban Americans took to the streets in Miami to protest in solidarity with the Cuban people. Meanwhile, Republican leaders like Rubio, who played a key role in the Trump administration’s hard-line policy toward Cuba, were already attacking Biden for the lack of an immediate response to the protests.

“President Biden’s failure to comment yesterday made clear that he has no interest in standing with the Cuban people as they revolt against the authoritarian regime,” Rubio said in a written statement to Politico. “The Biden administration’s decision to remain silent during critical hours is detrimental to the protesters who are bravely demonstrating for their God-given rights.”

Meanwhile, in Havana, Cuban leaders sought to suppress widespread protests across the island. On Sunday, President Miguel Diaz-Canel announced that a “combat order has been issued.” Security forces were deployed, government supporters were called in to regain control of the streets and Internet access was restricted in an apparent attempt to prevent protesters from sharing information. There were numerous reports of beatings and arrests by security forces, including widely known dissidents such as Luis Manuel Otero Alcantara, leader of the Movimento San Isidro movement.

On Monday, Díaz-Canel, who took over the presidency of the Cuban Communist Party just three months ago, a job he has been preparing for since becoming president in 2019, blamed US policy toward Cuba as the cause of the unprecedented demonstrations, refusing to acknowledge them. . Cuban frustration with his government.

Cuba’s protests come amid a political crisis in neighboring Haiti that is raising US fears of an exodus from Haiti as well.

Neither of them was on the agenda. “But they were forced back into the front torch,” said Shifter. “Biden was caught by surprise and [the administration has] to discover the appropriate narrative for this and to appear before him.”

It remains to be seen whether the protests are a unique event that will be wiped out by the authoritarian regime in Cuba or if they are the beginning of a meaningful movement. Cuba’s government exercises strict control over its population, but the patience of Cubans has been seriously tested by the coronavirus pandemic, adding to their current economic misery.

Biden administration officials did not immediately respond to questions about whether they were surprised by the demonstrations, were they warned they were coming, or what the administration’s plans regarding Cuba are in the coming days.

Speaking on Monday, Psaki said she was not aware of any immediate shift in US policy toward Cuba. “We are evaluating how we can help the people of Cuba,” she said.

In their statements, Biden administration officials appeared to be trying to walk a fine line: express their support for the protesters and demand that the Cuban government respond to the people’s demands, but stop too often to encourage regime change.

At times, it would lead to a confusing general message.

On Twitter, for example, Julie Chung, acting assistant secretary of state in the State Department’s Bureau of Western Hemisphere Affairs, has repeatedly called on all sides to refrain from violence, and called on the Cuban government to “listen to the demands of its citizens.” But at one point, she seemed to channel the revolutionary spirit, writing: “The Cuban people have waited long enough for ¡Libertad!”

Republican lawmakers took the opportunity to attack both the Cuban regime and Biden.

“President Biden, Freedom in #Cuba needs you now!” Senator Lindsey Graham (Republika Srpska) tweeted.

Chung, who was the first US official to tweet about the situation in Cuba on Sunday, was at the center of Republican criticism over her initial tweet, in which she said the protests were “to express concern about rising coronavirus cases, deaths, and drug shortages…”

Republican Representative Carlos Jimenez, a Cuban-American Republican representing South Florida, on Monday urged Biden, in a joint letter with Politico, to remove Chung from her hemispheric leadership position at the State Department over what he called “a disjointed and foolish statement.”

“Biden must be sure that we stand by the Cuban people against this evil regime,” said Elliot Abrams, a veteran observer of Latin America and a former senior State Department official under President Donald Trump. “This means rhetorical support, support in international organizations, and an absolute refusal to weaken sanctions because the regime brutalizes the population.”

But on the left, there is a belief that US sanctions on Cuba are no more likely to succeed now than they have been over the past six decades.

The administration “must find ways to engage the Cuban people, which entails lifting some sanctions to improve their lives and [deal with] Things like Covid,” Rhodes said. “I think in the end getting the Cubans involved is more powerful than thinking you can keep them in that pressure cooker.”

However, former administration officials and experts in the region say Biden should be careful not to become overly engaged in public. Díaz-Canel and Cuban leaders have already sought to portray the protests as a product of “Yankee imperialism,” although protesters assert that they have taken to the streets out of desperation caused by Cuban policies.

Foreign Minister Anthony Blinken denied allegations that the US orchestrated the protests, saying the demonstrations were a “reflection” of the Cuban people’s fatigue from government repression and mismanagement.

“It would be a huge mistake for the Cuban regime to explain what is happening in dozens of towns and cities across the island as a result or product of anything the United States did,” Blinken said during a news briefing Monday. “It will appear that they simply do not hear the voices and will of the Cuban people.”

“It’s a balancing act for Biden after all,” said Eric Farnsworth, vice president of the Council of the Americas and a former US government official. “You have to support democracy, uphold respect for peaceful protesters and human rights… without creating difficulties for the protesters.”

“The Cuban regime is very good at portraying protesters as agents of the United States,” Farnsworth added. “They are not. That is clearly not the case here.”

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