DONALD TRUMP SET TO REVERSE BARACK OBAMA'S POLICIES ON CUBA

[Judi Lynn]

40. Trumps anti-Cuba posturing clashes with his America First doctrine

Alan Pyke
Tips: [e-mail]
May 30


If Trump wants to stop basing foreign policy on human rights concerns, why is he knuckling under to Cuba hardliners?


https://cdn-images-1.medium.com/max/1000/1*pAZ7NwQobfkWOe_Ti-wJSA.jpeg

Passengers check in for the first direct commercial flight from Newark to Havana in decades, in November 2016. CREDIT: AP Photo/Julio Cortez


Less than a year after America and Cuba formally reopened diplomatic ties and relaxed many conditions of the ongoing economic embargo, President Donald Trump will reportedly call an end to the United States’ new beginning with its closest communist neighbor.

The move is out of step with Trump’s broader commitment to reorienting American foreign policy around hard-edged economic and security interests, as opposed to seeking to export democratic values. Re-freezing the newly thawed cultural and economic portal between the countries makes sense only as a means to punish Cuban dictator Raul Castro’s regime for failing to allow a free and open society to prevail on the island.

Though Trump himself had reportedly explored business and hotel deals in Cuba, his campaign seemed to take its cues from Florida congressional delegation hardliners like Sen. Marco Rubio (R) and Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R). Cuba-watchers had therefore braced for an abrupt reversal of President Barack Obama’s diplomatic overtures.

The whiplash speed of Trump’s own reversal makes it hard to predict exactly what form this new policy will take, Florida International University professor and Cuba expert Frank Mora told ThinkProgress.

More:
https://thinkprogress.org/trumps-anti-cuba-posturing-clashes-with-his-america-first-doctrine-e06f309c6eb3