Cuban-American protestors demonstrate in front of the White House in Washington Cuban-American demonstrators call for the U.S.
to support protesters in Cuba during a demonstration in Lafayette Park across from the White House in Washington, July 26, 2021. REUTERS/Jim BourgThe former Obama White House official who negotiated the reopening of relations with Cuba is sharply criticizing President Biden’s policies toward that country, saying his administration is “gaslighting” Havana by maintaining and even expanding harsh sanctions imposed by former President Trump.
“Why would any Cuban official ever, ever negotiate anything with America ever again after this? We had Trump — in the most grotesque, callous way — politicizing this. But then to have a Democratic administration legitimize what Trump did by continuing it — it’s a gaslighting to those people in Cuba, you know?”
“Over the past few years, conditions in Cuba and in the region have changed, and we have adapted our Cuba policy accordingly.” Until recently, the Biden administration had maintained many of the tight restrictions Trump had reimposed on Cuba and even expanded some sanctions still in place, targeting the chief of Cuba’s Interior Ministry over his role in cracking down on hundreds of Cubans who protested economic conditions last year.