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Biden Abandons the Cuban People

Posted on Saturday, January 14, 2023
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by Ben Solis
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32 Comments
Cuban

AMAC Exclusive – By Ben Solis

As the Cuban regime doubles down on its brutal treatment of the Cuban people, the Biden administration and congressional Democrats have only continued to relax economic and diplomatic pressure on the communist country. After expressing strong words of support for widespread anti-government protests two years ago, Biden has failed to follow through with any meaningful action, leaving opposition leaders feeling abandoned and dejected.

In a statement published by the U.S. Embassy in Havana last month, Biden praised the bravery of political prisoners being held by the regime, saying, “The United States stands with the Cuban people as they stand up for their human rights and a say in the future of Cuba.” But the facts show that while Biden is saying one thing, he is doing the opposite.

Soon after taking office, Biden began reversing many of former President Trump’s Cuba policies, including many economic sanctions on top figures in the Cuban regime. In June of last year, Biden also lifted restrictions on flights in and out of the country, news that no doubt came as a relief for the embattled Cuban government. These and other concessions will overwhelmingly favor the nomenklatura in Cuba, while leaving ordinary people to suffer.

Meanwhile, Democrats in Congress have pushed for “normalization” of relations with Cuba, in spite of the regime’s brutal treatment of its population. In early December, three Democratic lawmakers, Reps. James McGovern (D-MA), Mark Pocan (D-WI) and Troy Carter (D-LA) met with Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel and expressed a “willingness to improve bilateral relations.”

The lawmakers also relayed a desire to end the trade embargo with Cuba, but made no mention of ongoing human rights abuses by the government on the island. Notably, they also did not meet with any opposition leaders, breaking the Trump-era policy of solidarity with freedom fighters.

A few weeks after that meeting, Democrat Senator Ron Wyden also met with Diaz-Canel and called for ending the U.S. embargo. Though Wyden also met with opposition leaders, the gesture did not impress many freedom fighters, who questioned why Democrats were meeting with the Cuban dictator at all. One dissident posted on Twitter that Wyden’s statements only confirmed that the U.S. government was sympathetic to the regime and the Cuban people were alone.

Another dissident remarked that the Catholic Biden’s attitude toward Havana seemed to be an ironic reflection of Jesus’s statement that “whoever forces you to go one mile, go with him two.” Indeed, Biden has seemed more than willing to go the extra mile for the Cuban oppressors.

According to one independent Cuban journalist, a month before Christmas, Havana asked the FBI to cancel flights from Miami to Cuba to prevent couriers from entering the country to deliver financial aid to the opposition. As a result, American Airlines grounded hundreds of passengers, primarily Cuban-Americans, to comply with the request.

Biden has also allowed the Cuban government to mandate that Cubans living in the United States supporting their families back home send money through Orbit SA, which is controlled by Raul Castro’s son, Lt. Colonel Raul Guillermo. Instead of dollars, Cuban residents receive plastic vouchers with an assigned value that can be exchanged for goods in certain stores. Meanwhile, the Cuban military takes the hard currency. Because Biden also agreed to increase the limit on money transfers by Cubans living in the United States from $3,600 per year to $8,000 per year, this has meant a huge financial windfall for the Cuban regime.

Additionally, ahead of his first visit as President to the border earlier this month, Biden announced that his administration would allow an additional 30,000 immigrants from four countries, including Cuba, to enter the United States each month via humanitarian visas. But who gets these visas will be decided by the Cuban government – meaning that they will undoubtedly go to those friendly to the regime, rather than opposition figures who actually need to escape the country.

Unsurprisingly, Democrats’ actions have emboldened the regime to intensify its crackdown on the opposition movement. For instance, Cuban activist Rafael Puentes Creme was beaten and imprisoned for visiting the wife of political prisoner Jose Daniel Ferrer. The regime regularly denies Ferrer basic necessities like water, and prison authorities constantly threaten him with death. Another opposition leader, Berta Soler, was detained while trying to attend Christmas mass last year.

Additionally, as Cuban opposition leaders warned, the brutal actions of the regime has led to a wave of illegal immigration from the island. Over the past five months, border patrol authorities on or around the Florida coast have taken more than 12,000 would-be illegal immigrants into custody, the vast majority of which come from Cuba. Many also perish on the dangerous crossing in makeshift boats and rafts. Earlier this month, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis was forced to activate the National Guard to address the crisis.

Some Cuban dissidents have bitterly suggested that Biden’s policies and seeming abandonment of the Cuban people may be retribution for Cuban-Americans’ increasingly close association with former President Donald Trump and the Republican Party. In 2020, Trump nearly won the heavily Cuban Miami-Dade County, where Hillary Clinton had won by 29 points just four years earlier. While Hispanic-American voters more broadly are abandoning the Democratic Party, this shift has been particularly pronounced in Cuban communities, owing in large part to Democrats’ embrace of socialist policies.

It’s also no secret that many Cubans were strong supporters of Trump’s hardline stance toward the Cuban regime, believing that a tough approach to the communist government was the best path forward. Opposition leaders in particular have expressed extreme disappointment at Biden’s about-face.

Whether Biden’s policy shift is an intentional punishment of the Cuban population or not, the result is the same – the regime grows more powerful while the Cuban people suffer.

Ben Solis is the pen name of an international affairs journalist, historian, and researcher.

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BAE
BAE
1 year ago

Joe Biden doesn’t like anyone that is smart and works hard. He is the worst President EVER!

Carol
Carol
1 year ago

Leftist always throw bones to the people while supporting the Marxist leaders of those countries! The Democrats are all Marxists so they are always going to help their fellow Marxists no matter the country. Anything these Marxists say to the people is just to placate the sheep since the people in the eyes of a Marxist are nothing but slaves to be used and controlled! No surprise here!

Morbious
Morbious
1 year ago

Our treasonous dem party has the same goals as castro did, just different means and a longer time frame.

jocko
jocko
1 year ago

PREPARE A NEW AUCHITZ FOR THE libs

jocko
jocko
1 year ago

SEND ALL OF THE illegals TO biden’s WHITE HOUSE AND TO pelosi’s, schiff’s AND schumer’s HOMES

Sharon Ormsby
Sharon Ormsby
1 year ago

He must owe the Cuban government something too. He absolutely owes China, this should show Americans once and for all that he is a bona fide socialist and erring on the side of Communism.

CoNMTX
CoNMTX
1 year ago

Biden and the demo/Marxists would abandon anyone or anything if it would advance the future one-world government. They jump to the tune played by Klaus Schwab and the WEF. They are evil Satanic people.

Broccoli Free Zone
Broccoli Free Zone
1 year ago

The Cuban people KNOW all about socialism/communism. They have to fight or flight. Anyone with the courage to paddle a bath tub through 90 miles of more sharks than water deserves freedom. Besides they almost always vote rep because they see through the dem’s bull hockey. Here many people that want socialism have read Marx. Most that DON’T want socialism UNDERSTAND Marx, and I don’t mean Groucho.

Stephen Russell
Stephen Russell
1 year ago

to Lose the Hispanic vote more

Watch CNN
Watch CNN
1 year ago

Miami is the crime capital of the world.

Watch CNN
Watch CNN
1 year ago

Cubans should return to Cuba.

Don
Don
1 year ago

We, the people of this country are ashamed of our so called leaders in the Democrat party. They have no idea what real leadership is about. Congress should act immediately to shame them all publicly!

MJB
MJB
1 year ago

America at one time had a department in our government that took care of problem enemy governments such as the one in Cuba, it was known as the CIA.
However, since we now have these same communist believers in our own US government ruling us, the CIA is only used to try and overthrow our allies governments.
Commie Joe Biden only wants to see the USA overthrown by leftist communist loving punks like himself and his family!
The CIA removed a US president on November 22, 1963, maybe they should think about doing it again! At least it would give them something to do!

GTK
GTK
1 year ago

My heart goes out to the men and women of our country who must look these desperate Cuban immigrants in the face as they desperately try and save their families from communism. May God Bless you all. This is so different than what’s happening on the Mexican border.

KT
KT
1 year ago

Biden is like a fish out of water. He flips and flops all over. How can the American people trust this administration is beyond me. He is a liar and an outright thief (election theft) being the biggest of his schemes. Like I said on a Facebook post, he is crooked as a circle. 

PaulE
PaulE
1 year ago

Democrats have favored socialist and communist regimes going back several decades. The Democrat Party itself is now openly a socialistic party in all but name. All their policies openly reflect the principles and ideals of Marxism. They just have re-branded some of their terminology to make what they are pushing more palatable to a largely ignorant public with no real understanding of global history and where such principles and policies lead. So why should the behavior of the Biden administration, relative to Cuba, stand out as anything other than one authoritarian regime favoring another authoritarian regime?

If the American people want a federal government that actually favors human rights and freedoms over that of backing oppressive, autocratic regimes, then they need to stop allowing Democrats to be placed in positions of power. Until that dynamic changes, instances like this related to Cuba and other authoritarian regimes will continue to crop up. We could just as easily point to Iran, where the Biden administration is bending over backwards to try and curry favor with a theocratic dictatorship over the Iranian people in order to try and get a horrendously bad nuclear arms treaty with a regime that has continiuously vowed to destroy us. Sorry if this all comes off as harsh, but that is the simple reality that we as a nation face. If the American people continue to allow any Democrat to occupy the White House or control either chamber of Congress, this is the sort of fallout one has to expect.

Terry White
Terry White
1 year ago

I agree totally with the other two comments. Biden abandons any one, or anything that won’t line his pockets. He is the worst politician this country has ever seen. The deep state assassinated JFK. It amazes me that they have left this worthless POS untouched.

Michael J
Michael J
1 year ago

Biden abandons the Cuban people? Well get in line, he absolutely abandoned the American people first.

BillC
BillC
1 year ago

Biden doesn’t like people protesting his own quasi communist regime. One look at how he treats his opposition right here at home speaks volumes about his lack of sympathy for the oppressed!

Tom
Tom
1 year ago

All communists should die, all of them. We should have liberated Quber in 1993, when the former USSR was incapable of responding. The Castro’s should have received the Ceaușescu treatment. ????????????????????

BJ54
BJ54
1 year ago

The actions of this government and it’s agencies are no help to the ordinary people in any country.

Eric
Eric
1 year ago

He has also abandoned the America!! Why can’t we worry about this country instead of everyone else!!? Charity starts in the home!!

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