Trump revises ‘terrible and misguided deal’ with Cuba
President rolls back parts — but not all — of agreement forged by Obama
@djusatoday USA TODAY
President Trump told cheering Cuban-Americans on Friday that his new restrictions on U.S. travel to and business dealings with Cuba will help bring down the communist regime that has oppressed its people for more than a half-century.
“With God’s help, a free Cuba is what we will soon achieve,” Trump said in unveiling plans that reverse some of the revamped Cuba policies made by predecessor Barack Obama.
The current Cuban regime has been in place since 1959 and weathered a U.S. economic embargo from 1962 to last year, when some of the restrictions were lifted.
While Trump told supporters “I am canceling the last administration’s completely one-sided deal with Cuba,” the revamped policy really doesn’t do that. For example, while banning individual selfdirected travel to Cuba, trips for specific educational, government, religious and social purposes are still permitted. The two nations will still have re-opened embassies in their capital cities.
Trump and aides said they will restrict business transactions in which proceeds benefit the Cuban military and intelligence services, though some U.S. airlines and cruise ships will still be allowed to go to the island.
The so-called “wet foot, dry foot” policy — which once allowed Cuban migrants to stay in the United States if they made it to American soil but was banned by Obama — remains banned under Trump.
Critics said the Trump restrictions will undermine the president’s goal of a free Cuba and that increased exchanges would do more to encourage an overthrow of the government in Havana.
“These policy changes by President Trump will only take us back toward a Cold War policy that was a miserable failure and held our country back for more than 50 years,” said Rep. Jim McGovern, D-Mass., noting that business groups lobbied against any changes.
A Republican senator, Jerry Moran of Kansas, questioned Trump’s plans to restrict sale of U.S. products to Cuba, saying the island nation “is a natural market for our nation’s farmers and ranchers — and when we don’t sell to Cuba, another country does.”
Borrowing a Trump campaign phrase, Moran said “putting America first means exporting what we produce to countries across the globe.”
The U.S. Chamber of Commerce issued a statement saying “today’s moves actually limit the possibility for positive change on the island.”
In his remarks, Trump said the Obama administration’s “terrible and misguided deal” benefits only the Castro regime rather than the people it addresses. He said the regime, founded by Fidel Castro and now run by brother Raul, has spread “violence and instability” throughout the region.
Trump pledged to keep the economic embargo on Cuba until it releases political prisoners and allows political parties and freedom of assembly.
The crowd included CubanAmericans whose families left the island after Fidel Castro took over the government in 1959, overthrowing the dictatorship of Fulgencio Batista.
Citing “wonderful memories” from campaign visits, Trump said “that was right before the election — I guess it worked.”
The president also met privately with veterans from the Bay of Pigs, the ill-fated April 1961 invasion of Cuba by Cuban exiles and backed by the CIA.
Polls conducted last December showed that 75% of Americans favored the change in policy toward Cuba. @jimmichaels USA TODAY
The Pentagon will send nearly 4,000 additional troops to Afghanistan in an effort to turn around a war that commanders have described as a stalemate, The Associated Press reported Thursday.
Earlier this week, President Trump provided his defense secretary, Jim Mattis, with the authority to determine troop levels in Afghanistan.
The AP cited a Trump administration source who was not authorized to discuss the decision publicly and said the decision could be announced as early as next week.
A Pentagon spokesman, Christopher Sherwood, said no decision has been made yet.
A U.S. official who asked not to be named because he was not authorized to discuss the issue publicly said the Pentagon is still considering between 3,000 and 5,000 U.S. troops.
The question of sending additional troops is considered urgent in order to halt recent Taliban advances as another fighting season gets underway. The Taliban generally steps up violence in the warm months, when snows melt and roads become passable.
The top commander in Afghanistan, Gen. John Nicholson, has said a few thousand additional troops would be required to turn the tide on militants.
“We are not winning in Afghanistan right now,” Mattis told Congress this week.
There are about 8,400 U.S. troops in Afghanistan now in addition to several thousand troops from allied countries.