While Clinching Deals With Communist China, Trump Cracks Down on Trade and
Travel to Cuba
Published on
Friday, November 10, 2017
by
Common Dreams
While Clinching Deals With Communist China, Trump Cracks Down on Trade and
Travel to Cuba
"Our failed embargo against Cuba has been repeatedly and publicly condemned
by the international community as ineffective and harmful to the people of
Cuba."
by
Medea Benjamin
All the Cubans we talked to thought the sonic attack was a bunch of baloney.
From taxi drivers to government officials to dissidents, Cubans told our
group that the whole episode was concocted to justify turning back the clock
on Obamas détente with Cuba.
On Wednesday, November 8, just as President Trump was clinching new business
deals with the repressive Communist government of China, the Trump
administration announced its new rules rolling back President Obamas
opening with Cuba. The new regulations restricting travel and trade with the
Caribbean island will make it once again illegal for Americans to travel to
Cuba without a special license from the Treasury Department and will
dramatically reduce the number of Americans traveling there.
The regulations, which include a list of 180 banned entities, are supposed
to punish hotels, stores and other businesses tied to the Cuban military and
instead direct economic activity toward businesses controlled by regular
Cuban citizens. But during our visit to the island on a 40-person delegation
organized by the peace group CODEPINK, we found that Cubas small private
businesses, the very sector that the Trump administration wants to
encourage, are already feeling the blow.
In 2014 President Obama announced a new opening with Cuba. While the U.S.
sanctions imposed on the island following the 1959 revolution can only be
lifted by Congress, Obama used his executive power to renew diplomatic
relations and relax restrictions on travel and trade. Cuba, which already
has a large tourist sector with guests from Europe and Canada, geared up for
a tsunami of American visitors coming on newly authorized commercial
flights and cruise ships.
The Obama policy of engagement coincided with a new Cuban policy of allowing
Cubans to leave their miserably paid state jobs to try their hand at
starting up their own small businesses. Hundreds of thousands of Cubans
jumped at the opportunity, many flocking to businesses catering to tourists.
Cuba became the fastest growing site for AirBnB, as thousands of Cuban
families spruced up extra bedrooms in their homes to accommodate foreign
guests. Others took their life savings, or borrowed money from relatives
abroad, to open small restaurants in their homes called paladares.
All over downtown Havana, we saw signs of this small business renaissance,
with refurbished rooms for rent and boutique eateries boasting live salsa
music and high-quality meals for about $10. State-run hotels and
restaurants, notorious for bad food and bad service, now face competition
from well-run, family businesses.
While Trumps roll back of Obamas opening just went into effect, he
announced his plans back in June before a crowd of hardline anti-Communist
Cuban-Americans. Then in September came another setback for U.S.-Cuba
relations, when the United States said that US personnel in Cuba had been
subjected to mysterious sonic attacks that affected the health of 24
diplomats. The U. S. government withdrew non-essential personnel and
diplomat family members from the US Embassy in Havana. On September 29, the
State Department put out a Cuba Travel Warning. It said that because the
U.S. Embassy employees safety was at risk and the U.S. had been unable to
identify the source of the attacks, we believe U.S. citizens may also be at
risk and warm them not to travel to Cuba.
All the Cubans we talked to thought the sonic attack was a bunch of baloney.
From taxi drivers to government officials to dissidents, Cubans told our
group that the whole episode was concocted to justify turning back the clock
on Obamas détente with Cuba. Maybe they had hearing losses because the
reggaeton music here is so loud, joked one taxi driver. But to say Cuba is
unsafe is a lie. Cuba is the safest country in the world. You can walk
around here alone at 2a.m. in the morning and no one will bother you.
Between the new restrictions and the travel warning, Cubas burgeoning
private sector has already felt what Cubans call the Trump effect. Jose
Colome, owner of Starbien private restaurant in Havana that employs 35
people, shook his head in disgust. We had 48 reservations from US tourist
groups booked in the past three months; 30 of them cancelled.
Proximity Cuba, a travel agency catering to U.S. university groups, lost
half its business in one fell swoop. We had developed wonderful programs
for U.S. students in Cuba. Suddenly, the administrators read the travel
warning, and got cold feet and cancelled, said Proximity Cubas Director
Rodrigo Gonzalez.
Even the non-tourist sector is feeling the effects. The agricultural
cooperative we visited in Artemisa province was anxious to purchase US
tractors to replace their ancient Russian models, but now worry that the
deal will fall through. It is only natural for us to buy agricultural
inputs from the US market 90 miles away, said Maria del Carmen of the
National Association of Small Farmers. Trumps policies and the continuing
blockade of Cuba are hurting our farmers.
On November 1st, for the 26th year in a row, the UN General Assembly voted
overwhelmingly to condemn the US embargo against Cuba. The vote this year
was 191 nations against the embargo vs two in favor: the United States and
Israel. The embargo, which was first imposed in the 1960s, is seen by the
overwhelming majority of the worlds nations as an outdated and failed
foreign policy that has only served to punish the Cuban people and isolate
the United States internationally.
Just before the UN vote, ten U.S. Senators, led by Senator Patrick Leahy
(D-VT), sent a letter to President Trump saying: Our failed embargo against
Cuba has been repeatedly and publicly condemned by the international
community as ineffective and harmful to the people of Cuba. The longer we
maintain this outdated Cold War policy the more our international and
regional credibility suffers. The overwhelming majority of Americans,
including Cuban-Americans, and Cubans, including Cuban entrepreneurs and
many dissidents, oppose the embargo and favor engagement of the United
States with Cuba.
The United States is punishing Cuba because it says our government is
undemocratic, Dr, Aduabez Tabiada Zamora, a member of Cubas National
Assembly, told our group. Yet year after year, the entire world community
condemns this mean-spirited policy. Is that democratic?
The reversal of the Cuba opening is a victory for a small handful of
southern Florida officials like Senator Marco Rubio and a small group of
Cuban-Americans, but it is a major blow for diplomacy, people-to-people
ties, and most of all, Cubas new private businesses.
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