SouthernWorldwide.com – On May 20, 1902, the Cuban flag was raised for the first time over an independent nation. Over 124 years later, the Cuban people are still not free. Every president before Donald Trump either did nothing, did too little, or did too much for the Cuban regime.
Donald Trump is the first to recognize that the Cuban regime poses a threat to America and has resolved to confront it decisively. The failure of his predecessors to address this issue is not only a tragedy for the Cuban people but also for the United States.
Cuba’s communist regime is officially designated as a State Sponsor of Terrorism. It has been responsible for two of the most damaging espionage operations against the United States in recent history. Furthermore, it served as the intelligence backbone for the Maduro narco-state.
The regime has also acted as a coordinating hub for migration flows and drug routes that are impacting American communities. The suffering that Havana exports has, unfortunately, led to the loss of American lives.
It is perplexing how a small island nation, governed by communists for 66 years who struggle to maintain their own power grid, has been allowed to cause so much trouble for the world’s most powerful country. This has been possible because the United States has allowed it.
The freest, most prosperous, and most powerful nation in history could have resolved its “Castro problem” decades ago. However, the leaders in Washington at the time lacked the necessary will.
Looking back at the record, John F. Kennedy betrayed Cuban American freedom fighters at the Bay of Pigs. Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush treated Cuba as a secondary issue during the Cold War, which ended without resolving the Cuban situation.
Bill Clinton only signed the Helms-Burton Act because the Cuban regime shot down two Brothers to the Rescue aircraft in 1996, resulting in the deaths of four American citizens. Congress essentially forced his hand.
George W. Bush accepted the status quo. For decades, American presidents did too little to end the Castro regime. Barack Obama, however, did the opposite: he attempted to save it.
From 2014 to 2017, the Obama administration engaged in a reckless experiment in U.S.-Cuba relations. Embassies were reopened, and direct flights and cruise lines were initiated. Wealthy Cuban Americans enjoyed luxury in Havana hotels, places ordinary Cubans were forbidden to enter.
A sitting American president was seen doing the wave with Raúl Castro at a baseball game. The underlying theory was that engagement would empower reformers, but this proved to be a fantasy. The Cuban regime exploited the Obama administration and their business associates, pocketed their funds, and imprisoned dissidents like José Daniel Ferrer, the Ladies in White, and artists from the San Isidro movement.
The regime also oversaw the largest Cuban exodus since Mariel and brutally suppressed the July 11 protests with Soviet-style tactics. Every dollar invested flowed through GAESA, the military conglomerate controlling approximately 70% of the Cuban economy. The Obama team was warned about this, but they proceeded nonetheless.
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Then came Donald Trump. When American special operators executed a flawless raid in January, resulting in the deaths of Cuban security personnel within Maduro’s protection detail and the dictator himself being brought to a Manhattan federal courtroom, the world witnessed America’s renewed capability.
Years of patient pressure from President Trump on Venezuela concluded in just two hours and 28 minutes. The same strategy is now being applied to Havana. Cuba has once again been designated a State Sponsor of Terrorism.
The Cuba Restricted List now prohibits transactions with GAESA. Title III of the LIBERTAD Act has been reinstated. Executive Order 14404 authorized blocking sanctions on GAESA and foreign companies supporting it. On May 7, the State Department designated GAESA itself and the Sherritt joint venture at Moa Nickel.
Raúl Castro has now been indicted. Raúl Castro, Miguel Díaz-Canel, and the generals of GAESA will soon learn the lesson that Maduro has already experienced.
A small group of former Obama-era officials, lobbyists who profited from the engagement period, and academics who built careers defending the policy continue to advocate for lifting pressure and trying again. These individuals are not neutral observers; they are the architects of a failed policy.
Their experiment enriched GAESA, filled Cuban prisons, and contributed to the largest migration crisis on the American border in a generation. They wish to repeat this experiment, but they should not be given another chance.
What is being offered in a new Cuba already exists 90 miles away in Florida and across the Caribbean. Ordinary Cubans can own restaurants or open banks. Citizens can run newspapers. Complaining is not a crime. Voters can replace a failing government.
No transition supported by the United States in modern history has had the assets this one possesses: a Cuban American Secretary of State, a Cuban American congressional delegation, a diaspora ready to lead reinvestment, and a statutory framework designed precisely for this moment.
Donald Trump is the first president to recognize the Castro regime as the threat to America that it has always been. He has chosen the right Secretary of State to assist him in ending it. The Trump Doctrine that ended Maduro’s reign is now being directed 90 miles south.
One hundred and twenty-four years after the Cuban flag first flew over an independent country, this president will ensure it flies over a free one.
Alberto Martinez served as a Senior Advisor and Chief of Staff to Marco Rubio.
