Months after the U.S. extended a series of olive branches to Cuba, Washington and Havana are saying the other needs to do more before additional progress can be made on 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 are “not fully cooperating” with U.S. antiterrorism efforts. The Treasury also implemented a 2022 rule granting Cuban entrepreneurs access to American banking services and financial platforms.
These moves were some of the most significant overtures to Havana since the Obama administration — but the White House says it’s not ready to go further. A senior administration official, granted anonymity to speak freely about U.S. policy, emphasized that a wide gap still exists between Washington and Havana on the Cuban government’s human rights record that needs to be addressed before more happens.
“We haven’t seen a willingness by the Cuban government to make a grander gesture that would result in a significant thaw in relations,” the official said.
Havana says that the ball is in Washington’s court. Cuban diplomats in Washington argue the Biden administration is capriciously relaxing restrictions that only impact a limited section of Cuban society. They have also voiced frustration that Washington is ignoring bigger sticking points in the bilateral relationship, namely Cuba’s designation as a “state sponsor of terrorism.”
“Cuba has relayed to the United States government via public and private channels that we are ready to sit down and discuss issues of bilateral importance that are priorities for both peoples,” Lianys Torres Rivera, chargé d’affaires at Cuba’s embassy in Washington, said in an audio statement. “And what we ask for is respect and non-interference in our domestic affairs.”
The impasse might squander one of the best windows to mend fences with Havana, as Democrats no longer seem worried that improving relations with Havana will carry a political cost for them in Florida.
Historically, Democratic administrations avoided offering olive branches to Havana during a first term, wary of alienating the over one million Cuban exiles who live in electoral juggernaut Florida. But Cuban American voters have seen their influence on national conversations around policy towards the island diminish as Florida has increasingly supported Republican candidates and Democrats have prioritized pathways to victory running 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 see Florida as a battleground state, though campaign officials at the time quickly clarified that Florida was “in play for President Biden and Democrats up and down the ballot” and that the campaign “continues to scale up our presence and investments into the state.”
And though some polling suggests Florida could be in play for Democrats, the Harris campaign excluded Florida from a list of target battleground states.
“I don’t think the Democrats think that Florida is actually in play in 2024,” said Fernand Amandi, a Cuban American pollster and strategist who worked on Obama’s successful 2008 and 2012 campaigns in the state. “They can act in what they think is the best interest of United States policy as opposed to political consequences in Florida or political considerations in Florida.”
Cuba also faces an unprecedented economic crisis that has driven hundreds of thousands to flee the island in recent years, exacerbating the White House’s migration woes as many Cuban migrants have opted in recent years to enter via the U.S. border with Mexico.
Institutional headwinds have eased after Sen. Bob Menendez (D-N.J.) stepped down from his perch as Senate Foreign Relations Committee chair. But any expansion in cooperation with Cuba is considered a political minefield and fully mending fences with Havana would stir sharp outrage from Republicans, especially South Florida’s Cuban American lawmakers who argue relaxing sanctions against Havana will allow it to continue its “destabilizing” activities in the region.
Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), the son of Cuban immigrants and one of the Biden administration’s sharpest critics on policy towards the island, said the administration was “trying to lay the groundwork so that in the second term, they can align us closer to that regime, which is desperate for any sign of a lifeline.”
Still, progressives want President Joe Biden to go further, arguing the current policy isn’t pushing Cuba closer to being a democracy that respects human rights.
“The status quo is not working,” said Rep. Jim McGovern (D-Mass.). “We’re locked into this old Cold War type of approach that didn’t work during the Cold War and we’re still stuck with it because nobody wants to just rip the band aid off and say, you know, let’s try something different here.”
Nahal Toosi contributed to this report.
A version of this article previously appeared in POLITICO’s National Security Daily newsletter. Like this content? Consider signing up!
