Itemizing Cuba as a state sponsor of terrorism could be a final throw of the cube by bitter Pompeo

The outgoing Trump administration is outwardly contemplating blacklisting Cuba. There is no such thing as a logical justification for this apart from a want to cease Joe Biden from persevering with the coverage of reconciliation began by Barack Obama.

In response to a report from the New York Instances, Mike Pompeo is contemplating inserting Cuba on the US’ ‘State Sponsors of Terrorism’ record earlier than he leaves workplace, with solely 22 days left till the Joe Biden administration takes management in January.

This could model Cuba as an instigator of terrorism and subsequently place curbs on US help, monetary transactions and different types of assist to the nation. If carried out, Havana would be a part of Iran, North Korea and Syria on the naughty step, with Sudan having been eliminated a number of weeks in the past for brokering a take care of Israel.

In actuality, the record is extra ceaselessly understood to be, very merely, a group of nations which the US actually doesn’t like, slightly than a definitive measure of what constitutes true “terrorism.” The inclusion of countries akin to North Korea and Cuba is senseless beneath that particular angle.

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However using such a designation to stigmatize and isolate such international locations is a really helpful gadget for a fanatical secretary of state like Pompeo. With President Trump’s administration having pursued a ‘Neo-Monroe Doctrine’ in opposition to unfavourable states in Latin America, the administration is looking for to cement its hawkish legacy and block Biden’s path to warming ties with Havana, having already carried out in order a part of the Barack Obama administration.

The broader overseas coverage impetus of the Trump White Home has been, beneath the auspices of ‘Make America Nice Once more’, to reaffirm US hegemony over the world by brute power, taking a particularly uncompromising place in direction of enemy states, and in flip intentionally rolling again Obama’s overseas coverage, which noticed Washington make peace with quite a few international locations.

Whereas the Iran deal was torn up, the Trump administration additionally went on the offensive in Latin America within the pursuit of an age-old custom of seeking to take away governments against the US.

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The chief architects of this ‘Neo-Monroe Doctrine’ had been Pompeo and former Nationwide Safety Advisor John Bolton. There was an try at outright regime change in Venezuela, a coup effort in Bolivia in opposition to Evo Morales, nearer ties with Brazil beneath Jair Bolsonaro and a broader effort to try to isolate Cuba that concerned imposing new sanctions, which noticed the binning of Obama’s coverage of reconciliation.

Not surprisingly, Pompeo has been notably bullish on the difficulty. In April, when Cuba despatched its medical doctors to assist a number of international locations fight the pandemic, he accused it of exploiting the scenario.

After all, the administration is now on the finish of its tenure. The try to depose Nicolás Maduro in Venezuela has not succeeded, nor has US strain notably bought to Cuba, with the island attracting practically $ 2 billion in overseas funding regardless of sanctions.

In order that begs the query: what subsequent? As we now have seen with China, Iran and different points, the present administration is anxious that Biden will merely torpedo Trump’s legacy.

As Pompeo’s dogmatic views allude to, the Cuba concern particularly is motivated extra by ideology than particular strategic urgency, in contrast to within the Chilly Battle period – particularly given the affect of the Cuban exile anti-communist foyer throughout the Republican Occasion.

The presence of a communist state on Florida’s doorstep has all the time been an enormous irritant to the US, however is it going to be a strategic precedence for Biden to maintain up the warmth?

The reply is nearly actually not: his instant priorities will likely be China, pandemic response and financial restoration. In consequence, Pompeo is aiming to protect his hyper-aggressive legacy by throwing a spanner within the works on his method out. And that’s how we arrive on the infamous ‘State Sponsors of Terrorism’ record.

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Clearly Cuba doesn’t sponsor terrorism. But it surely does supply navy assist to Maduro’s Venezuela, and beneath America’s utterly unbiased definition, that’s sufficient to warrant the designation (whereas, in fact, many international locations who do legitimately fund terrorism keep off the record).

However the level isn’t about cracking down on terrorism, and even the sanctions affect it brings; it’s the symbolism of depicting Cuba as a malign rogue actor undermining the pursuits of the US – and throwing a wave of bureaucratic hurdles in the way in which of the Biden administration through state division opinions if it needs to take away the designation.

Thus, as with the latest spate of sanctions in opposition to China, the transfer is designed to try to lockstep Biden into this legacy coverage. In the end it’s a final throw of the cube by Pompeo, who’s more likely to be remembered for a string of callous selections and has ceaselessly been described as “the worst secretary of state in historical past.”

Having acted extra as an ideologue and a zealot slightly than a diplomat, his grievances in opposition to Cuba merely signify an extension of that egregious mission. However finally, he’ll go away workplace empty handed. Cuba has discovered to outlive for over 60 years with out the US doing it any favours, and it isn’t going to be delivered to its knees now.

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