The Trump team ratchets up its punishment of Cuba

This week following what it mentioned was a comprehensive review of U S approach toward Cuba the Trump administration publicized new measures aimed at strengthening its campaign of maximum pressure on the Cuban regime with the clear intent of further weakening the already damaged Cuban financial system The latest measures are aimed at further reducing U S citizen movement to the island claiming that this excursion gives a boost to the Cuban business sector that must be curtailed by targeting two areas where key trip by U S citizens who do not have relatives on the island educational and religious groups By introducing new restrictions on such trip the administration seeks to dramatically reduce the number of non-Cuban American trips These new measures build on the actions taken in the first days of Trump The return of Donald Trump to the White House meant that two hardline Cuban Americans who had shaped Cuba agenda in the first term were now back in charge Mauricio Claver-Carone returned to his role in the National Guard Council as Latin American advisor and Marco Rubio was elevated to Secretary of State They have wasted little time in making clear that their Cuba guidelines is going to be one of maximum pressure On his first day in office Trump restored Cuba to the State Sponsor of Terrorism list citing supposed links to Hamas and Hezbollah and made clear that Title III of Helms-Burton would not be suspended under his administration Gary Prevost A second key action was to take aim at a key aspect of the Cuban economic system that the Biden administration had not targeted remittances Orbit SA a Cuban company that processed hundreds of millions of dollars per year in transfers from Cuban Americans to the island was declared an entity of the Cuban authorities and U S companies including Western Union were prohibited from doing business with them This leaves the primary direction for remittances from the United States to reach Cuba to be the daily airline flights from the United States with couriers who take money to the island Hardline Cuban American legislators have called for the ending of such flights and that could happen in coming months Certainly an central procedures initiative is aimed at Cuba s medicinal brigades abroad which are both humanitarian projects and an central money earner for the Cuban financial market The Trump administration is threatening to withhold the opportunity to tour to the United States for administrators of any country that hosts the healthcare missions In the short term it is not likely to cancel any critical existing agreements with countries like Brazil and Mexico but it may discourage new agreements Framing all of this hostility toward Cuba is the most of up-to-date national guard assessment from the U S Southern Command that for the first time in decades declares Cuba to be a prospective measure exposure to the United States because of its close ties to both China and Russia Such a declaration could provide justification for even more drastic actions from this administration toward Cuba August H Nimtz Just as the Trump administration is shredding the social safety net for toilers at home and abroad the Cuban executive against all odds does just the opposite a bad example in the opinion of Washington and Wall Street Their six-decade-long bipartisan-enforced embargo intends to make life as arduous as achievable for Cuban toilers with the hope that they ll one day overthrow their revolution still a mirage U S rulers have never forgiven as Fidel Castro so perceptibly pointed out in Cuba s toilers for making a socialist revolution right under Washington s nose and continuing to defend it For that sin their punishment requirements to ratchet up Gary Prevost is a professor emeritus of political science at the College of St Benedict and St John s University August Nimtz is a professor of political science at the University of Minnesota Both are members of the Minnesota Cuba Committee The post The Trump band ratchets up its punishment of Cuba appeared first on MinnPost