Biden Called Cuba a Failed State.
Cuba Says He’s Trying to Make It One.
October 28, 2022
Washington D.C. — At least they’re talking?
After five years of a unilaterally-imposed diplomatic freeze, U.S. diplomats now seem willing to at least meet with their Cuban counterparts.
In recent weeks, Cuba’s Deputy Foreign Minister Carlos Fernández de Cossío has spoken publicly about the state of U.S.-Cuba relations and his recent conversations with State Department officials.
His account of the talks gives little cause for optimism.
Cossío told AP his counterparts “found no reason” to keep Cuba on the State Department’s List of State Sponsors of Terrorism, but they claim it would be “politically difficult” to remove Cuba.
It also seems politically difficult for the Biden administration to speak with such candor in public, as evidenced by State Department spokesperson Ned Price’s evasive responses whenever he is asked pointed questions about Cuba.
After Hurricane Ian hit western Cuba last month, the U.S. responded to Cuba’s request for assistance by sending $2 million in aid via the Red Cross along with dozens of firefighting suits to replenish those lost in the Matanzas blaze.
In April, Cossío led a Cuban delegation to Washington to meet with U.S. officials on migration for the first time in four years, which the State Department described as a "constructive discussion" among others it seeks with the Cuban government.
In addition, Biden has resumed limited visa processing in Havana and loosened some restrictions on travel and remittances.
But overall, Biden’s Cuba policy has been largely indistinguishable from Trump’s.
Apart from keeping Cuba on the State Sponsors of Terrorism List, the Biden administration has also yet to suspend Title III of the Helms-Burton Act, which Trump activated in May 2019, becoming the only president to do so in 23 years. Title III unleashed a flurry of lawsuits in U.S. courts against companies in the U.S. and abroad that were doing business in Cuba during the Obama administration.
Both Title III and the terrorism blacklist have dissuaded foreign companies and banks from engaging with Cuba, further cutting the island off from the international financial system and limiting its access to credit and investment.
U.S. sanctions still apply to U.S. travel, trade and remittances to the island, as well as third countries’ ability to sell fuel and spare parts to Cuba, ravaged by daily blackouts due to scarcities and its aging energy infrastructure.
In addition, the Biden administration has touted “democracy promotion” programs that, according to Cossío, are designed to topple the Cuban government.
The U.S. is “depressing the standard of living of the population and at the same time pouring millions of U.S. taxpayer dollars into urging people to act against the [Cuban] government," Cossío told Reuters.
The Trump administration constructed a slew of false narratives about Cuba to justify the wholesale departure from Obama’s policy of engagement, some of which have subsequently been adopted either implicitly or explicitly by Biden officials.
For example, the Biden administration continues to accuse Cuba of “human trafficking” as its doctors serve on international missions to bolster public health systems in the Global South and help fight COVID around the world, including in Europe.
According to Cossío, Biden has advanced a new false narrative, dubbing Cuba a “failed state” even as its pioneering biotech industry and extensive public health system have made it one of the world’s most vaccinated countries.
Biden’s aim, according to Cossío, is “to make Cuba a failed state.”