After the re-establishment of bilateral relations between the US and Cuba under Barack Obama and Raul Castro, relations between Washington and Havana have stumbled again under Joe Biden.
In May, the White House allowed Cuban officials to visit Miami International Airport and tour its security facilities, and removed Cuba from the US list of countries ‘not fully cooperating with counter-terrorism efforts’.
The Treasury Department also implemented the 2022 rule, which allows Cuban entrepreneurs to access American banking services and financial platforms.
These were some of the most significant overtures to Havana since the Obama administration, but the White House says it is not ready to go further, according to POLITICO.
A senior administration official argued that there is still a wide gap between Washington and Havana over the Cuban government’s ‘human rights record’ and that this gap must be bridged for the United States to take further steps.
“We have not seen any willingness on the part of the Cuban government to make a major gesture that would lead to a significant thaw in relations,” the official said.
Havana, however, says the ball is in Washington’s court. Cuban diplomats in Washington argue that the Biden administration has ‘capriciously’ eased restrictions that affect only a limited segment of Cuban society. They also express frustration that Washington is ignoring the bigger problems in the bilateral relationship, namely the designation of Cuba as a ‘state sponsor of terrorism’.
Lianys Torres Rivera, charge d’affaires of the Cuban embassy in Washington, “Cuba has communicated to the US government through public and private channels that we are ready to sit down and discuss issues of bilateral importance that are priorities for both peoples. What we are asking for is respect and non-interference in our internal affairs,” said in a statement.
POLITICO recalls that historically, early Democratic administrations avoided extending an olive branch to Havana for fear of offending the more than one million Cuban exiles living in Florida.
But Cuban-American voters, who are generally hostile to the revolution, have seen their influence on candidates’ policies diminish as Florida increasingly favours Republican candidates and Democrats prioritise Arizona, Georgia, Nevada and North Carolina.
