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.
