A Bad Example of Bipartisanship

 (blog by Stan)

Just when you thought bipartisanship was dead and buried, President Biden has single-handedly revived it by throwing his support behind Donald Trump's inhumane and ineffective Cuba policy. It seems we can now call it the Trump-Biden agenda. The former President's obsession with punishing Cuba manifested itself in no less than 240 executive measures aimed at tightening the US stranglehold on the island's economy, causing senseless suffering and unleashing a humanitarian crisis for our neighbors ninety miles away. Among his almost weekly actions against Cuba were limitations on travel, blocking a humanitarian shipment of masks and ventilators early in the pandemic, shutting down embassy services, prohibiting remittances, and placing Cuba on the State Department's list of state sponsors of terror. The last official action he took as President was to place the International Finance Bank of Cuba on the list of sanctioned institutions. Since this is the bank that the churches of Cuba use, our mission money cannot be sent. This is money used to support pastors and fund ministries that meet the needs of the most vulnerable of the nation.

I will confess that I placed great hope in President Biden. A friend in Cuba recently reminded me that she told me on election day that my hope was probably misplaced, that she didn't expect any substantial changes regarding the US' hostile stance toward Cuba. So far, the "new" administration has proven her right. In the first 100 days of his administration, President Biden signed 39 executive orders, virtually all of them fulfilling campaign promises to revoke actions of his predecessor and charting a new direction for the country. The themes of these orders included race, gender, sexual orientation, public health, the environment, immigration/refugees, worker safety, education, economic relief, the military, criminal justice, science and technology, international affairs, and religion.
And yet, in these three months, and in the months since then, President Biden has done absolutely nothing to change policy toward Cuba, despite campaign promises that he would reverse these counterproductive policies of Trump. Despite all those hopeful promises made during the campaign, all we have yet to hear from the current White House regarding Cuba is that any action the President takes will be directed by a concern for human rights and input from Cuban-Americans. No matter that we have our own human rights concerns to worry about (mass incarceration, police reform and refugee treatment among them), or that we regularly do business with far worse human rights-abusing nations around the world (Burma among them). No matter that Cuban-Americans do not speak with one voice regarding our policy; input from Ted Cruz and Enrique Tarrio will be far different than that of Richard Blanco and Andy Garcia.
It seems to me that President Biden simply does not want to lead on the issue of US-Cuba relations. Until we see some sign of leadership, some signal of change, until at least one executive order that revokes his predecessor's cruelty, we can only conclude that President Biden is content to carry Trump's water on this issue. Chalk one up for the bipartisan blockade.

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