What is behind Biden’s decision to relax relations with Cuba and Venezuela?

This is a campaign promise. When Joe Biden aspired to reach the White House, maintained that he would reverse some decisions made by the then president of USADonald Trump, regarding Cuba. A little more than a year after occupying the Oval Office, Biden is true to his word.

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This week, Washington announced the return of the family reunification program, as well as “a package for opening and promoting economic ties between the two countries”. According to “El País”, it “will promote the growth of the Cuban private sector by supporting greater access to Internet services“-what’s included”platforms of electronic commerce”- and it will be allowed to send more than a thousand dollars in remittances.

The goal, according to the State Department, is to focus on human rights and the political and economic well-being of Cubans.

Political sanctions, however, will remain in place. “We continue to call on the Cuban Government to immediately release political prisoners, to respect the fundamental freedoms of the Cuban people and to allow them to determine their own future.”, the agency wrote.

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similar decision made Biden regarding his relationship with Venezuela. In 2017, Trump was blunt and prohibited, for example, that Venezuelan Treasury bonds be traded in US markets. Instead, the current president has just authorized the oil company Chevron -the only one from the US that maintains a presence in the country of Nicholas Maduro– can negotiate with the company state PDVSA.

According to the Government, the measuresearch encourage dialogue between the government and its political rivals”, in clear reference to the opposition leader Juan Guaidówho is trying to be supported in the resumption of the dialogue table with the dictatorship of Ripe.

Ripefor his part, responded sarcastically to the news and said that he will request a visa to go to a salsa festival in New York.

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View of Havana, Cuba. AP (Ramon Espinosa/)

There are no stitches without thread

To internationalist Mayte Dongo don’t you think that the decision of Joe Biden with respect to Cuba either Venezuela be daring. “It is not that he has taken the same path as Barack Obamait is not that he has removed Cuba from the list of sponsoring countries of the terrorism. The goal behind this has remained the same for decades: the regime change“, He says.

“Obviously, it is not an easy goal to achieve, so they are taking other paths”.

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Opening new channels of communication between Guaidó and Maduro is one way in which USA I know “will approach” to the country. The same happens with Cuban remittances, a way to achieve a greater presence on the island. “There is a lot of emphasis on businessmen, which also means strengthening civil society that is against the regime”.

The shortage of energy that has caused the war between russia and ukraine -and the sanctions against the Kremlin– would also have been the driving force behind this decision. Since 2019, the US has maintained a trade embargo on Venezuelan oil that now, when it no longer buys from Moscowyou need so much.

The move, however, might not go according to plan. The Deutsche Welle realizes the “poor state of Venezuelan extraction facilities“Chevron, for what it is”impossible to know how long it would take to resume oil production”-

The president of Mexico, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, would be one of the leaders of the boycott against the Summit of the Americas. EFE (Mario Guzman/)

anti-boycott measures

The Argentine analyst based in the United States, Hernán Molinaunderstands Biden’s decisions as a way to save the Summit of the Americaswhich will take place between June 6 and 10 in The Angels.

What happened? Washington did not invite Cuba, Venezuela and Nicaraguacausing the reaction of President of Mexico, Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador. In response, AMLO he threatened his absence unless all countries were invited.

“So the US position softens. They cannot afford the absence of Mexico, their most important commercial partner”, notes Molina. “Then countries like Argentina and those of Caribbean have taken advantage of the situation to demand the same”.

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Indeed, as the EFE news agency recalls, now the fifteen members of the Caribbean Community hesitate to participate. A similar position was taken by the leaders of Argentina and Chile, Alberto Fernandez Y Gabriel Boricwho “they have not ruled out their participation, but have demanded that no one be excluded from the conclave”.

Coincidentally – and in what appears to be an attempt to stop others from joining the boycott – the first Lady Of The United States, Jill Bidenjust started a tour Ecuador, Panama Y Costa Rica.

internal problems

These government measures are already causing problems for the Democrats and could jeopardize the governability of the Biden administration. In fact, the reactions were immediate. The Senator Bob Menendez Held: “Today’s announcement risks sending the wrong message to the wrong people, at the wrong time, for all the wrong reasons.”.

“To be clear, those who still believe that increased travel will bring about democracy in Cuba are in a state of denial. For decades, the world has been traveling to Cuba and nothing has changedMenendez added.

.

“Flatly, the Democrats rule out the Cuban and Venezuelan Republicans. They are never going to vote for them, so the Democratic base doesn’t care much about them. It is also true that within the Democratic Party there are people on the left who think that USA should have an approximation with these countries, as well as with Palestine”.

It seems clear to the specialist that the Republicans are going to use these measures against the Democrats, but that, in reality, it will not affect the midterms much. “It is already very difficult for the Democrats to maintain the small majority in the Senate and in the House of Representatives. This discussion is one more stripe on the tiger, and I don’t think it will change the course of thingsMolina concludes.

Source: Elcomercio