New US restrictions may harm bilateral ties

Trump’s controversial Cuba directive branded a backward step for relations

HAVANA — US President Donald Trump’s decision to roll back parts of former president Barack Obama’s historic opening of Cuba could push the countries back to hostility, an expert in international affairs said.

On Friday, Trump ordered tighter restrictions on United States citizens traveling to Cuba and a clampdown on US business dealings with the country’s military.

Trump also reaffirmed a decades-old US economic embargo against Cuba.

Trump’s decision has to be understood within the context of his policy toward left-wing governments in the region, said Luis Suarez, a professor of international relations in Cuba.

“In the case of Cuba, Trump returns to the concept of trying to make negotiations from a position of strength, and ignoring the political and legal systems of Cuba, as well as the country’s sovereignty and selfdetermination of the Cuban people,” he said.

Trump’s policy seeks to apply the Helms-Burton Act, passed by the US Congress in 1996, to intensify the economic blockade on Cuba, the expert said.

It is not clear if Trump’s directive would affect more than 20 agreements signed by the two countries in recent years.

However, sources in the Cuban government said Havana is keen to continue joint efforts in sectors such as law enforcement, counterterrorism, human and drug trafficking.

No reason

Security agencies and senior officials in Cuba said they are willing to continue cooperation with the US side, despite that exchanges have declined sharply since Trump took office in January.

“I see no reason for the Trump administration to modify the agreements signed by both countries as many of these accords are in the interests of the United States,” Suarez said.

Trump’s new policy tightened restrictions and put forward more complicated requirements for US citizens who want to travel to Cuba, a major setback to the policy of his predecessor Obama, which allowed Americans to visit Cuba individually in 12 categories, including “people-to-people contact” and “cultural and educational exchanges,” he said.

In the first five months of this year, 284,565 US citizens visited Cuba, which was almost as many US visitors who traveled to the island last year.

Trump called for a new agreement for the normalization of bilateral relations between the US and Cuba that would “suit” both sides.

In response, the Cuban government said any strategy that is aimed at changing the political, economic and social system in the country “is doomed to fail.”

“The concept of normalization of relations in the United States is not the same as we have in Cuba. For us, normalization has to go through eliminating the economic blockade, returning the territory occupied by the Guantanamo naval base as well as noninterference in our internal affairs, among other issues,” Suarez said.

“The Obama administration started from the concept of considering the Cuban government as a legitimate negotiator. This administration is ... questioning the legitimacy of the government itself,” he added.