Trump to rollback some of Obama’s Cuban outreach

WASHINGTON: US President Donald Trump has vowed to revisit all of his predecessor’s diplomatic successes and failures, but is he ready to slam the door on Cuba?

On Friday, he is expected to unveil a new policy on relations with Cuba after Barack Obama painstakingly restored ties with the communist-run island.

Although many Americans support the decision and the US business community has welcomed moves to reopen trade, Trump’s hardline campaign rhetoric won him support among influential Cuban exiles in Florida.

The White House has not let much slip, but a radical turnaround such as a renewed break in diplomatic relations does not yet appear to be on the cards. Instead, Trump may announce a return to restrictions on US tourists heading to Cuba and businesses signing partnerships with Cuban firms.

That would be meant to press Raul Castro’s government toward democratic reform and appease CubanAmerican voters, many of whom fled communist rule. US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson yesterday acknowledged that increased cooperation helps both countries and provides opportunities for downtrodden Cubans. But he also cited the “dark side” of Cuba’s regime, saying Trump’s review had concluded that some renewed business relations help fund the regime.

“Cuba has failed to improve its own human rights record. Political opponents continue to be imprisoned. Dissidents continue to be jailed,” he told senators.

“And as we’re enjoying the benefits on the economic and development side, are we inadvertently or directly providing financial support to the regime?” “Our view is: ‘we are,’” he added, answering his own question. That view resonates with Cuban-americans such as Senator Marco Rubio, the son of anti-castro immigrants, who has long warned that detente is moving too fast. “I am confident the president will keep his commitment on Cuba policy by making changes that are targeted and strategic and which advance the Cuban people’s aspirations for economic and political liberty,” he said.

Trump accused Cuba of “cruel despotism” in May, vowing to support its people’s hopes for democracy, which raised ironic cheers from rights supporters more used to his cozying up to Saudi Arabia, Turkey and other autocratic states.

But watchdog groups such as Human Rights Watch are skeptical of a return to the terms of the half-century Cold War stand-off, with its total trade embargo and no diplomatic ties.

“The previous administration was right to reject a policy that hurt ordinary Cubans and did nothing to advance human rights,” said Daniel Wilkinson, the group’s managing director for the Americas. “The fact that Obama’s approach hasn’t led to political reform in Cuba after just a few years isn’t reason to return to a policy that proved a costly failure over many decades.”

On the economic front, business interests on both sides of the Florida Straits are wary of a return to a rigorous enforcement of the still-active US sanctions legislation.

Some 50 female Cuban entrepreneurs who have benefited from the island’s limited free-market opening have even written to Trump’s daughter and adviser Ivanka. Inviting her to the island to see for herself, the women insist that “millions of Cubans” now benefit from increased tourism and trade. The previous US administration softened many of the restrictions lifting American travel to Cuba, triggering a tourism boom. DUBLIN: Leo Varadkar was elected Irish Prime Minister on Wednesday, making the 38-year-old son of an Indian immigrant the once-staunchly Catholic country’s first gay premier and the youngest person to hold the office.

Despite inheriting Europe’s fastest-growing economy, he will face immediate challenges in the shape of neighbouring Britain’s exit from the European Union, a political crisis in Northern Ireland and a housing crisis at home.

Varadkar succeeded Enda Kenny earlier this month as leader of the governing Fine Gael party, with colleagues pinning their hopes of an unprecedented third term on the straight talking Varadkar, who they believe can widen their appeal in elections that may be triggered as soon as next year.

“Enda Kenny’s leadership enabled me to become an equal citizen in my own country two short years ago and to aspire to hold this office, an aspiration I once thought was beyond my reach, at least if I chose to be myself,” Varadkar said in reference to Ireland’s 2015 vote to legalise gay marriage.

“The government I lead will not be one of left or right. The government I lead will be one of the new European centre as we seek to build a Republic of opportunity, that is a Republic in which every citizen gets a fair go and in which every part of the country stands to share in our prosperity.”

Varadkar’s elevation marks another chapter in the social change that has swept through the country of 4.6 million people that only decriminalised homosexuality in 1993 and legalised divorce two years later. “As the country’s youngest holder of this office, he speaks for a new generation of Irish women and Irish men, he represents a modern, diverse and inclusive Ireland and speaks for them like no other,” Kenny told parliament, nominating his successor.

However it is his policies that will attract more scrutiny at home with opponents warning that the former health, tourism and social protection minister, who first joined the centre-right party aged 17, would nudge it further to the right.

While analysts expect few major policy shifts from Varadkar and his new cabinet, which he is due to name later on Wednesday, the new Fine Gael leader has hinted at some changes.