Trump’s reversal a ‘blow for Cubans’
HAVANA Cubans watched their televisions with dismay and anger as United States President Donald Trump railed against their country in a speech from Miami that made many fear a return to an era of frostier US-Cuban relations.
Trump said in the speech yesterday, which was widely broadcast in Cuba, that he was cancelling former president Barack Obama’s ‘‘terrible and misguided deal’’ with the communist-run island, which aimed to normalise ties after five decades of hostility.
The Cuban government responded by rejecting what it called Trump’s ‘‘hostile rhetoric’’, but said it was willing to continue ‘‘respectful dialogue’’ on topics of mutual interest.
‘‘It’s like we are returning to the Cold War,’’ said Cuban designer Idania del Rio, who joined a group of friends in a hotel in Old Havana to watch Trump’s speech in English on CNN.
‘‘He used rhetoric that President Obama had left behind, so it definitely feels like an enormous setback in relations.’’
In reality, Trump left much of the Obama-era opening in place, and did not sever diplomatic ties, but his bluster against Cuba’s communist rulers and tightening of rules harked back to tougher times.
Some of del Rio’s friends were too disappointed to continue watching the speech until the end.
In the rest of Havana, Cubans at home watched the speech translated into Spanish on Venezuelan channel Telesur.
‘‘Trump’s words seem a bit ambiguous to me, because he says he wants the best for the Cuban people while tightening the blockade,’’ said Aurelio Seguera, who watched from a rocking chair in his ramshackle home in central Havana.
The landmark 2014 detente sparked widespread euphoria in Cuba and raised hopes for an improvement in its ailing economy.
Eased restrictions fuelled a boom US tourist arrivals, especially in Havana, creating demand for more bed and breakfasts, restaurants, taxis and tour guides in the fledgling private sector.
But critics say the opening has failed to improve rights. Trump justified his partial reversal of Obama’s measures on those grounds, and some Cuban dissidents back his tougher stance, saying repression has worsened after the detente.
Cuban authorities have stepped up short-term detentions of activists, often confiscating their telephones and laptops, and have also come down with a heavy hand on self-employed Cubans who appear to be empowering themselves.
‘‘When the Obama administration stopped condemning human rights violations in Cuba, the regime here said, ‘Look, we REUTERS can do this and nothing happens, so we can continue repressing more forcefully’,’’ said Jose Daniel Ferrer, who leads the Patriotic Union of Cuba, the largest dissident group. Ferrer said his group had 53 activists currently imprisoned due to their political views.
Other dissidents agreed that repression had worsened but said rolling back the detente would hurt ordinary Cubans and was not the solution.
‘‘It will probably not have any benefit in terms of human rights,’’ said Eliecer Avila, the leader of the opposition youth group Somos Mas.
The Cuban government had withstood a US trade embargo for more than half a century and would not make political concessions to the US due to economic pressure, said Carlos Alzugaray, a retired Cuban diplomat.
‘‘I am concerned it will affect the private sector quite a bit, and much more than the Cuban government,’’ he said.
Without doubt it will affect those in tourism who have benefited from a threefold increase in US visitors in the past two years, although it remains unclear how much.
The biggest change in travel policy will be that Americans making educational people-topeople trips, one of the most popular authorised categories, can no longer go to the island on their own, but only in groups. Experts say travellers may simply use the ‘‘support for the Cuban people’’ category instead.
‘‘We are all really scared, because we live from rent,’’ said Maria Elena Reyes, 45, who rents rooms in her large house in a leafy suburb of Havana.
The number of Americans booking her place this year had surpassed all her hopes, she said, but now that demand looked to be under threat.
The new setback to the Cuban economy comes at a time when it is wrestling with falling oil shipments from crisis-stricken ally Venezuela and a decline in exports.
‘‘This is another blow for Cubans, and it will hurt our pockets, obviously,’’ said Martha Garcia, 51. ‘‘With the United States, there is no tranquillity.’’ Reuters, AP