The US and Cuba are at an impasse over expanding relations

Months after the US extended a series of olive branches Cuba, Washington and Havana say other countries need to do more before further progress can be made in repairing diplomatic ties.

In May, the Biden administration allowed Cuban officials to visit Miami International Airport and tour the airport’s security facilities and removed Cuba from a list of countries that “do not fully cooperate” with U.S. counterterrorism efforts. The Treasury also implemented a 2022 rule that grants Cuban businesspeople access to American banking services and financial platforms.

These measures were some of the most significant openings for Havana since the Obama administration — but the White House says it is not prepared to go any further. A senior administration official, who was granted anonymity to speak freely about U.S. policy, emphasized that there remains a large gap between Washington and Havana in the Cuban government’s human rights record that needs to be addressed before more happens.

“We did not see a desire on the part of the Cuban government to make a grander gesture that would result in a significant thaw in relations,” said the official.

Havana says the ball is in Washington’s court. Cuban diplomats in Washington argue that the Biden administration is whimsically relaxing restrictions that affect only a limited section of Cuban society. They also expressed frustration that Washington was ignoring major points of conflict in the bilateral relationship, namely the designation of Cuba as a “State Sponsor of Terrorism”.

“Cuba has conveyed to the United States government through public and private channels that we are ready to sit down and discuss issues of bilateral importance that are priorities for both peoples,” said Lianys Torres Rivera, chargé d’affaires at the Cuban embassy in Washington. in an audio statement. “And what we ask for is respect and non-interference in our internal affairs.”

The impasse could squander one of the best opportunities to mend fences with Havana, as Democrats no longer appear concerned that improving relations with Havana will come at a political cost for them in Florida.

Historically, Democratic administrations have avoided offering olive branches to Havana during a first term, fearful of alienating the more than one million Cuban exiles living in electoral juggernaut Florida. But Cuban-American voters saw their influence in the national conversation surrounding policy on the island diminish as Florida increasingly supported Republican candidates and Democrats prioritized paths to victory that run through Arizona, Georgia, Nevada and North Carolina.

Democrats have admitted as much. Harris Campaign Chair Jen O’Malley Dillon said in an interview with Puck in June that the campaign does not view Florida as a swing state, although campaign officials at the time quickly clarified that Florida was “in play for President Biden and Democrats at the polls” and that the campaign “continues to increase our presence and investments for the state.”

And although some polls suggest Florida could be in play for Democratsthe Harris campaign excluded Florida from a list of battleground states.

“I don’t think Democrats think Florida is really in play in 2024,” said Fernand Amandi, a Cuban-American pollster and strategist who worked on Obama’s successful 2008 and 2012 campaigns in that state. “They can act in what they consider to be the best interest of the politics of the United States, as opposed to political consequences in Florida or political considerations in Florida.”

Cuba is also facing an unprecedented economic crisis that has led hundreds of thousands of people to flee the island in recent years, worsening the White House’s migration problems, as many Cuban migrants have chosen in recent years to enter through the US border with Cuba. Mexico.

Institutional headwinds eased after Sen. Bob Menendez (DN.J.) stepped down as chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. But any expansion of cooperation with Cuba is considered a political minefield, and fully mending fences with Havana would provoke strong outrage from Republicans, especially Cuban-American lawmakers in South Florida, who argue that relaxing sanctions on Havana will allow it to continue its “destabilizing” activities in the region. .

Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Florida), the son of Cuban immigrants and one of the Biden administration’s most outspoken critics of policy toward the island, said the administration was “trying to lay the groundwork so that, in the second term, they can align us more with this regime, which is desperate for any sign of a lifeline.”

Still, progressives want President Joe Biden to go further, arguing that current policy is not bringing Cuba closer to a democracy that respects human rights.

“The status quo is not working,” said the congressman. Jim McGovern (D-Mass.). “We’re stuck in this old kind of Cold War approach that didn’t work during the Cold War and we’re still stuck in it because no one wants to just rip off the Band-Aid and say, you know, let’s try something different here.”

Nahal Toosi contributed to this report.

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