True impact of President Trump’s Cuba policy up in the air

Some call President Trump’s Cuba speech a “terrible mistake.” Others think the address is “Trump’s best speech.” The truth is thatwe won’t knowif Trump’s decision to deny resources to the Cuban military will succeed until the federal regulations being written are made public. In the meantime, the president’s directives to his Cabinet are instructive.

Trump says that U.S. Cuba policy must agree with American laws and— unlike with President Obama, who developed Cuba’s policies in secret with the input of a handful of White House aides and in collaboration with Cuban authorities— Trump’s reappraisal has been debated in print and electronic media, on the internet and in Congress by politicians of every ideological stripe. Active in the discussion are organizations across the political spectrum; fromthe conservative Heritage Foundation to the progressive Washington Office on Latin America, which for many years has defended the “Cuban Revolution.” Also involved ismy own Center for a Free Cuba, which is dedicated to the promotion of human rights on the island.

Cuban-Americans, Cuban-American senators and members of the House of Representatives have had input on what President Trump is doing— just as Lieutenant Colonel Alejandro Castro-Espín, Raul Castro’s son, did while negotiating Obama’s policies with Ben Rhodes, once President Obama’s speech writer.

The most vociferous critics of Trump’s announcement are supporters of Obama’s policies, which included questionable decisions such as removing Cuba fromthe list of countries that support terrorism while American terrorists wanted by the FBI continue to live in Cuba under the regime’s protection. Another decision included the former president’s instruction to the intelligence community to cooperate with Cuba’s intelligence and spy agency.

There are those who argue that the embargo and American policy toward Cuba since the 1960s have failed, without realizing that itwould have been impossible to have normal relations while Castro sent armies to Africa under Soviet command and the island became an unsinkable Soviet aircraft carrier 90 miles away. Short of an invasion, Washington had to rely on containment to curtail the Castro brothers’ anti-American actions and their support for terrorism, including Puerto Rican terrorists and drug trafficking.

Cuba’s behavior hasn’t changed. Russian spy ships targeting American military communication returned to Havana Bay, Raul Castro attempted to smuggle war planes and missiles to North Korea, the CIA told Congress Cuba presents a cyber security threat, and repression and political detentions increased under Obama’s watch.

Let’s hope that if Raul Castro provides safe haven to American terrorists, his government will be put back on the list of governments that support terrorism.

Discarding a policy that contained Castro’s Cuba with one that strengthens Cuba’s military is a bad deal.