The current focus on Cuba over the protests that broke out there recently is giving us an idea of how the Biden-Harris Administration will approach Latin America.
In this situation, I recommend a critical attitude about the reports we are getting, especially in the corporate media. Even more than we should routinely be applying to news reports about breaking news. In general, the US public is skeptical about military interventions. But that skepticism is widespread and vague. On the other hand, there is a focused and politically potent lobby of voters from Cuban, Venezuelan, and Nicaraguan immigrant communities that are heavily concentrated in the state of Florida that tends to have a strong preference for harsh US policies and even aggressive regime-change actions by the US government against Latin American governments they don't like.
The current mayor of Miami, Francis Suarez, has even encouraged the Biden-Harris Administration to consider US air strikes against Cuba as an immediate option in the current situation. Which is crazy talk. But its an indication of the political clout in Florida of those with pro-interventionist agendas. In Miami, the mayor says military action may be needed in Cuba Miami Herald 07/14/2021:
Miami Mayor Francis Suarez says the U.S. should explore air strikes against Cuba, telling Fox News on Tuesday that “what should be contemplated right now is a coalition of potential military action in Cuba” similar to U.S. interventions in Panama and Yugoslavia under presidents from both parties.Yes, Virginia, there really are warmongers in the world.
Asked if he was suggesting air strikes in Cuba, the Cuban-American Republican responded: “What I’m suggesting is that option is one that has to be explored, and one that cannot be just simply discarded.”
Suarez, a Miami-born lawyer whose father was Miami’s first Cuban-born mayor, did not directly call for military action. But he said it should be considered, and pointed to past military interventions that included the killing of Osama Bin Laden with a U.S. air operation in Pakistan.
This is a statement on US policy toward Cuba from the Congressional Research Service, which amazingly has maintained a decent reputation for realistic policy analysis, Cuba: U.S. Policy Overview CRS 06-21-2021:
Since the early 1960s, when the United States imposed a trade embargo on Cuba, the centerpiece of U.S. policy toward Cuba has consisted of economic sanctions aimed at isolating the Cuban government. ...Critics of Trump's isolationist-nationalist foreign policy sometimes said that America First could wind up looking like America Alone. I guess 184-2 with three abstentions isn't quite alone. Biden's policy toward Cuba is, so far, more hostile than Obama's was. Trump reimposed sanctions on Cuba by arbitrarily designating Cuba as a state sponsor of terrorism, a designation that Biden could have ended any time since his January 20 inauguration. The US and Israel were the only two countries voting against the UN resolution. Brazil, Colombia, and Ukraine were the three abstaining. (Adopting Annual Resolution, Delegates in General Assembly Urge Immediate Repeal of Embargo on Cuba, Especially amid Global Efforts to Combat COVID-19 Pandemic UN Press Release 06/23/2021)
The Biden Administration maintains that it is conducting a review of policy toward Cuba; currently, sanctions imposed during the Trump Administration remain in place. During the U.S. election campaign, Biden said he would reverse Trump Administration policies that harmed the Cuban people without advancing democracy and human rights. The White House press secretary said on March 9 that although a Cuba policy shift was not among the President’s top priorities, the Administration was “committed to making human rights a core pillar” of policy and “to carefully reviewing policy decisions made in the prior administration, including the decision to designate Cuba as a state sponsor of terrorism.” On June 23, the Biden Administration opposed a U.N. General Assembly resolution (approved by vote of 184 to 2, with 3 abstentions) urging the United States to end its embargo on Cuba; the Obama Administration had abstained on the annual resolution in 2016. [my emphasis]
It's noteworthy that the government of Mexico under President Andrés Manuel López Obrador (AMLO) is offering Cuba humanitarian aid and at least publicly seems to be distancing itself from the Biden-Harris position. As the UN vote shows, virtually the entire world disapproves of the US sanctions policy that Biden is maintaining.
Here are some recent news reports on the situation:
Cuba: ¿Por Qué Ocurrieron Las Masivas Protestas? Milenio 12.07.2021
Las protestas en Cuba: Biden pide que se escuche a los manifestantes y AMLO ofrece ayuda humanitaria Página/12 12.07.2021
Pedro Domínguez, Ante protestas en Cuba, AMLO llama a buscar solución sin violencia; ve intervencionismo Milenio 12.07.2021
AMLO llama a buscar solución sin violencia en Cuba Melenio 07/12/2021:
Bianca Padró Ocasion, Cuban dissidents in Miami ask U.S. to intervene on the island after massive protests Miami Herald 07/12/2021
Argentina's Atilio Boron offers a distinctively left position in Cuba, el bloqueo y la crisis Pagina/12 13.07.2021
From the American left, Ben Burgis weighs in, The US Must End Its Brutal Sanctions Against Cuba, Not Intervene There Jacobin 07.12.2021. This is a "left" position in the US. As the UN vote showed, virtually the entire world takes the same official position, including every one of the NATO allies.
James Bloodworth, Cuba Doesn’t Know How to Handle the New Protests Foreign Policy https://foreignpolicy-com.libproxy.berkeley.edu/2021/07/13/cuba-protests-castro-history-special-period/
This is a Deutsche Welle Español discussion that includes the Cuban writer Amir Valle, who portrays the current protest melodramatically (and frivolously) as an uprising of the entire Cuban people against the Cuban regime, Protestas en Cuba: ¿El principio del fin? A fondo 07/15/2021.
This is a short related story about demonstrations in Chile related to the current Cuban situation, Chilenos se enfrentan a favor y en contra de las protestas en Cuba DW Español: 17.07.2021:
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