“During the first Trump Presidency Cuba became a particular target for US imperialism. In office, Biden changed nothing of significance until the very last minute. In the first two days of Trump’s second term he reconfirmed his intention to intensify the vicious blockade of Cuba”
By Bernard Regan, Cuba Solidarity Campaign
Donald Trump was inaugurated as President of the United States of America on Monday, 20th January 2025. Even before he took office, he made clear his foreign policy intentions.
His return to the White House, four years after his first term of office which ended in January 2021, does not augur well for Cuba or indeed for the countries of Latin America. On 25th September 2018, speaking at the United Nations General Assembly during his first Presidency, he invoked the 1823 Monroe Doctrine, rejecting “the interference of foreign nations in this hemisphere”. This was a clear declaration that he envisages that the western hemisphere should be subject to Washington-Wall Street priorities. His proposal to rename the Gulf of Mexico as the “Gulf of America”, his declaration that he intends to take over the Panama Canal, Greenland and perhaps even Canada, might appear a grotesque joke, nevertheless indicate the trajectory of his ambitions! He has a Cold War view of the world, China the challenge, alongside Russia.
Trump has his eyes on ensuring that it is US capital that is the determining force on the continent playing a hegemonic role in the exploitation of the precious resources of Latin America such as Lithium, oil and other minerals. His aim is to prevent China, expanding its economic relations in the region. A challenge which is evidenced by the existing relations between Latin America and Chinese companies exemplified by the opening of the mega port of Chancay in Peru, the largest deepwater port on the western coast of the continent.
Cuba became a particular target for US imperialism under Trump 1.0. In his last few days of office in 2021 Trump imposed a series of vindictive measures adding 243 new orders which intensified the existing vicious blockade imposed on Cuba by successive Presidents. On 12th January 2021, days before he left office, he placed Cuba on the list of State Sponsors of Terrorism (SSOT) – a move which places even more stringent limitations on Havana’s ability to pay for goods and services in the international market. It blocks Cuba’s access to SWIFT – the mechanism universally used to transfer monies between countries. It makes it difficult for the Cuban government to trade on the international market and gain necessary credits to develop the economy. Such a move some commentators have described as an economic “death sentence”.
The blockade is remorseless – denying, for example, a wide range of essential medical equipment for the treatment of cancer, basic Personal Protective Equipment during the time of COVID, cochlea implants for children, batteries for hearing aids and many other examples. Companies from any country in the world which trade with Cuba face heavy fines imposed by OFAC (the US Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control). British companies that operate in the US market compliantly intervene to stop financial or trade transactions with Cuba. The extraterritorial penalties placed on third-party countries contravene UN General Assembly motions and internationally recognised terms of trade between sovereign countries. In the opinion of a number of globally recognised legal authorities, “no blockade has been as comprehensive, long lasting and brutal against a people as the one that the United States have maintained against Cuba.” A view endorsed at the UN General Assembly by a massive majority vote of 187 – 2 with 1 abstention which voted for an end to the blockade. Only the USA and Israel voted against this position.
When he took office in 2021, Biden kept all of Trump’s measures in place only removing Cuba from the list of SSOT three days before leaving office knowing full well that Trump would reverse the decision, a move he made a mere 48 hours after his inauguration. It is impossible to put a cigarette paper between the policies of the Republicans and the Democrats making people nostalgic for the “Obama days” even though he too retained the same strategic objective of overthrowing Cuba’s socialist revolution.
The ostensible reason for placing the country on the SSOT list was Cuba’s refusal to enact an extradition order by the Colombian government imposed on members of the ELN guerilla movement. The ELN members were in Cuba to take part in peace negotiations with the Colombian government. Cuba was hosting the talks in conjunction with the Norwegian government, at the behest of the United Nations. On 24th October 2024, the Colombian government agreed to an extension to the ceasefire with the ELN until 15th April 2025. Needless to say Norway has never been put on the SSOT list! The retention of this categorising of Cuba is s crude vindictive sanction.
Trump’s appointment of Senator Marco Rubio as Secretary of State signposts that his attitudes are not going to alter one iota in his second term. In fact they may be ramped up. Rubio, the Miami-born son of Cuban parents, who despite his attempts to rewrite history, left the island two years before the 1959 revolution, is a virulent anti-Cuba politician when it comes to USA policies towards the island. Like Trump, he wants to establish hemispheric hegemony over Latin America and he sees Cuba as an obstacle to the achievement of that goal.
One of Trump’s weapons will be the imposition of hard-line policies such as threatening the mass deportation of around 11 million (sometimes he quotes 21 million) non-documented migrants. Countries in the region, including Canada, are anxious about the consequences. This could impact Cuba too.
Many hope that the BRICS grouping will provide an alternative economic pole to the USA but it has yet to prove itself. It is by no means homogenous and the aspirations of Modi and Putin may differ radically from those of Lula and the Chinese leadership. Whilst it has potential it has yet to demonstrate its ability to create an alternative economic pole to the USA.
The unity of progressive forces in Latin America will be important as will international solidarity.
- Cuba, Africa, and Apartheid’s End – The Cuba Solidarity are co-hosting an event with Arise Festival, 6.30PM Wednesday 5 February at the Marx Memorial Library in London. Register and find out more here.
- Latin America Conference 2025 – join solidarity speakers and guests from across the region, to build movements of international solidarity with Latin America, learn about the region’s history of struggle and challenge US intervention. 10AM-5PM Saturday, February 8th at 10am-5pm Hamilton House, Mabledon Place, London WC1H 9BD. Book your tickets here.
- Bernard Regan is the Secretary of the Cuba Solidarity Campaign. You can follow Bernard on Twitter/X here; and follow the Cuba Solidarity Campaign on Facebook, Twitter/X and Instagram.
