What can Cubans from President Trump expect? Claver-Carone responds

In Cuba there is a historical opportunity towards a political opening, towards a transition, and the will of President Donald Trump in this regard is different from that of past administrations, said the special envoy of the United States for Latin America, Mauricio Claver-Carone.

In a conversation in the Miami-Dade College about the United States’s strategy to the region, the official talked about the strategies that the current administration would put into action in favor of a change in the island of communist government.

«They already saw during their first period a fixed commitment of President Trump towards a democratic transition on the island and, after all, we broke any conventional thought and wisdom scheme in that regard. There are no taboús,» he told Martí News.

If in Trump’s first mandate, «we ended the time on how to focus on the economic axes, particularly, the military and intelligence bodies of the regime,» now «we will be more surgical, more effective,» he said.

Claver-Carone mentioned the intention of «leverage that pressure quite a lot to ensure that there are incentives (…) towards change.»

On what strategies the Trump administration would put into action to ensure a democratic transition in Cuba, in the case of a overthrow of the dictatorship, Claver-Carone said that the tools that have been used for that purpose towards Cuba «are very outdated.»

«The sanctions themselves are based on old laws that sometimes have no side effects,» he said. In the case of Venezuela, for example, «the instruments are much more specific, effective, have side effects and therefore are more powerful.»

The special envoy explained that the cases of these two countries are different. «Venezuela had an election in which the opposition won», while in Cuba, for more than 60 years, there has been «a systemic policy of eliminating, prohibiting and not allowing any type of aspect of what can smell opposition.»

To a question about the letter sent Thursday by Cuban American congressman Carlos Giménez to the Secretary of the Treasury, Scott Besent, requesting the End of trips and remittances To Cuba, Claver said that «it is something that has always been discussed, and they are of old tools, I would say; I think we can be more creative,» although he said that the proposal «comes from good place.»

On a development measure that would put in a black list of travel restrictions to several countries, including Cuba and Venezuela, he said that «that is still talking, nothing has yet come out, so I have nothing to add.»

At the end of January, Secretary of State Marco Rubio explained in an official statement that in the first two weeks of President Trump’s mandate, he took decisive measures to terminate important last minute changes in politics towards Cuba announced by the previous administration.

«The president acted on his first day in office to keep Cuba in the list of countries that sponsor terrorism,» said Rubio in the statement, which he titled «Restoring a hard policy towards Cuba«

Among other actions, the Secretary of State approved the renewal of the list of restrictions on Cuba, which prohibits certain transactions with companies under the control of the military, and announced that the US Foreign Ministry is reissued this list «to deny resources to the same branches of the Cuban regime that oppress and monitor directly to the people while controlling large sectors of the country’s economy.»

He also said that United States «promotes the accountability of the Cuban regime to oppress its people and rejects the evil interference of Cuba in the Americas and worldwide.»

(With Carlos Ojeda report for Martí News)