President Biden Says the U.S. ‘Stands Firmly with the People of Cuba’
Unprecedented protests draw increased focus from Washington
The wave of unparalleled popular protests which have engulfed Cuba this week is drawing an increasing level of attention from the Biden administration — including from President Biden himself.
Popular street protests — not seen on the island nation 90 miles from Florida probably since Fidel Castro's revolution some 60 years ago — were sparked in Havana and elsewhere across Cuba Sunday, provoked by anger from days of limited electricity in the sweltering heat, food shortages and ongoing threat of infection by coronavirus.
Cubans took to the streets even though such protests are outlawed. And soon enough the government of President Miguel Diaz-Canel began rounding up scores of protesters for arrest.
The extraordinary events in Cuba have quickly begun capturing more and more attention in Washington DC.
"The Cuban people are demanding their freedom from an authoritarian regime. And I don't think we've seen anything like this protest in a long, long time — quite frankly, ever,” President Biden said Monday at the White House. “The United States stands firmly with the people of Cuba as they assert their universal rights and we call on the government, the government of Cuba, to refrain from violence in their attempts to silence the voice of the people of Cuba.”
Meanwhile, at the State Department, Secretary of State Antony Blinken acknowledged that the administration has a review of policy towards Cuba underway. However, Blinken was quick to dismiss accusations from Cuba's leader that the protests are the result of social unrest fomented by the United States.
US policy towards Cuba has whipsawed wildly in recent years.
After decades of embargo and frozen relations borne of the Cold War, President Barack Obama in 2016 liberalized those relations, allowing for greater travel by Americans to Cuba, and the ability of Cubans in the United States to send remittances back home.
But less than a year later, Donald Trump quashed all of those policy adjustments, including forcing the lone US hotel on the island to close and reinstating Cuba on the list of nations which sponsor terrorism.
“The policy review that you point to focuses on the political and economic wellbeing of the Cuban people. And obviously, we’re looking carefully and closely at what has just happened, what indeed is happening,” Blinken said Monday at a press conference. “And as we stated many times, at the heart of the review and at the heart of the policy, are democracy and human rights. That’s core to our efforts, that will be reflected in the policy.
“I think it would be a grievous mistake for the Cuban regime to interpret what is happening in dozens of towns and cities across the island as the result or product of anything the United States has done,” Blinken added. “It would be a grievous mistake because it would show that they simply are not hearing the voices and will of the Cuban people.
“People deeply, deeply, deeply tired of the repression that has gone on for far too long, tired of the mismanagement of the Cuban economy, tired of the lack of adequate food and, of course, an adequate response to the COVID pandemic,” he said. “That is what we are hearing and seeing in Cuba. And that is a reflection of the Cuban people, not of the United States or any other outside actor.”
No prediction
Finally, White House press secretary Jen Psaki addressed the matter during her daily briefing, but cautioned that the outbreak of protests won't necessarily prompt a policy response.
“In terms of our assessment of our policy, I should say, it continues to be, our approach continues to be governed by two principles: first, support for democracy and human rights, which is going to continue to be at the core of our efforts through empowering the Cuban people to determine their own future; second, Americans, especially Cuban Americans are the best ambassadors for freedom and prosperity in Cuba,” Psaki said. “I don’t have anything to predict for you in terms of any policy shift.
“Obviously, given the protests were just happening over the last 24-48 hours, we're assessing how it can be helpful directly to the people of Cuba in these circumstances,” she added.
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