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Trump Reverses Certain Steps Toward Normalizing Relations with Cuba

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  13 February 2018

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Extract

In June 2017, President Donald Trump announced a plan to roll back various steps taken by his predecessor toward normalizing relations between the United States and Cuba. A senior official for the administration announced the plan in a White House press briefing:

The President vowed to reverse the Obama administration policies toward Cuba that have enriched the Cuban military regime and increased the repression on the island. It is a promise that President Trump made, and it's a promise that President Trump is keeping.

With this is a readjustment of the United States policy towards Cuba. And you will see that, going forward, the new policy under the Trump administration, will empower the Cuban people. To reiterate, the new policy going forward does not target the Cuban people, but it does target the repressive members of the Cuban military government.

Type
General International and U.S. Foreign Relations Law
Information
American Journal of International Law , Volume 111 , Issue 4 , October 2017 , pp. 1027 - 1035
Copyright
Copyright © 2018 by The American Society of International Law 

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References

1 White House Press Release, Background Briefing on the President's Cuba Policy (June 15, 2017), at https://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2017/06/15/background-briefing-presidents-cuba-policy, [hereinafter Background Briefing on the President's Cuba Policy].

2 White House Press Release, Statement by the President on Cuba Policy Changes (Dec. 17, 2014), at https://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2014/12/17/statement-president-cuba-policy-changes; see also Daugirdas, Kristina & Mortenson, Julian Davis, Contemporary Practice of the United States, 109 AJIL 407, 415 (2015)Google Scholar.

3 U.S. Dep't of Treasury Press Release, Fact Sheet: Treasury and Commerce Announce Regulatory Amendments to the Cuba Sanctions (Jan. 15, 2015), at http://www.treasury.gov/press-center/press-releases/Pages/jl9740.aspx. The Treasury regulations can be found at 31 C.F.R. §515 (2015); the Commerce regulations can be found at 15 C.F.R. §§730–74 (2015).

4 Daugirdas, Kristina & Mortenson, Julian Davis, Contemporary Practice of the United States, 109 AJIL 663, 666–67 (2015)Google Scholar; Daugirdas, Kristina & Mortenson, Julian Davis, Contemporary Practice of the United States, 109 AJIL 407, 415–19 (2015)Google Scholar.

5 Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Cuba Press Release, Cuba and the United States Sign Memorandum of Understanding in the Field of Plant and Animal Health (Jan. 20, 2017), at http://www.minrex.gob.cu/en/cuba-and-united-states-sign-memorandum-understanding-field-animal-and-plant-health (“This new Memorandum is mainly intended to contribute to prevent the introduction and spread of quarantine pests, animal and plant disease agents and vectors in the United States and Cuba … .”).

6 U.S. Dep't of State Press Release, United States and Cuba Sign Maritime Treaty Boundary (Jan. 18, 2017), at https://2009-2017.state.gov/r/pa/prs/ps/2017/01/267117.htm (noting the treaty will be submitted to the Senate for its advice and consent).

7 Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Cuba Press Release, Cuba and the United States Signed Twinning Agreement Between Ciénaga de Zapata and Everglades National Parks (Jan. 18, 2017), at http://www.minrex.gob.cu/en/cuba-and-united-states-signed-twinning-agreement-between-cienaga-de-zapata-and-everglades-national.

8 U.S. Dep't of State Press Release, United States and Cuba Sign Search and Rescue Agreement (Jan. 18, 2017), at https://2009-2017.state.gov/r/pa/prs/ps/2017/01/267107.htm.

9 U.S. Dep't of State Press Release, United States and Cuba To Sign Law Enforcement Memorandum of Understanding (Jan. 16, 2017), at https://2009-2017.state.gov/r/pa/prs/ps/2017/01/267007.htm.

10 U.S. Dep't of State Press Release, United States and Cuba Sign Bilateral Oil Spill Preparedness and Response Agreement (Jan. 9, 2017), at https://2009-2017.state.gov/r/pa/prs/ps/2017/01/266726.htm.

11 White House Press Release, Statement by the President on Cuban Immigration Policy (Jan. 12, 2017), at https://obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/the-press-office/2017/01/12/statement-president-cuban-immigration-policy [hereinafter Obama on Cuban Immigration Policy].

12 Julie Hirschfeld Davis & Frances Robles, Obama Ends Exemption for Cubans Who Arrive Without Visas, N.Y. Times (Jan. 12, 2017), at https://www.nytimes.com/2017/01/12/world/americas/cuba-obama-wet-foot-dry-foot-policy.html.

13 Obama on Cuban Immigration Policy, supra note 11.

14 Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Cuba Press Release, Declaration by the Revolutionary Government (Jan. 16, 2017), at http://www.minrex.gob.cu/en/declaration-revolutionary-government-0.

15 Mazzei, Patricia & Sherman, Amy, Trump Learns to Play Miami's Ethnic Politics , Miami Herald (Sept. 16, 2016)Google Scholar, at http://www.miamiherald.com/news/politics-government/election/donald-trump/article102378397.html (quoting Donald Trump as saying the following at a campaign rally: “All of the concessions Barack Obama has granted the Castro regime were done through executive order—which means the next president can reverse them. And that I will do unless the Castro regime meets our demands. Not my demands—our demands… . Those demands will include religious and political freedom for the Cuban people, and the freeing of political prisoners.”).

16 Background Briefing on the President's Cuba Policy, supra note 1.

17 Julie Hirschfeld Davis, Trump Considers Rolling Back Obama's Opening with Cuba, N.Y. Times (May 31, 2017), at https://www.nytimes.com/2017/05/31/world/americas/cuba-trump.html.

18 Background Briefing on the President's Cuba Policy, supra note 1.

19 Id. [Editors’ note: “Individual people-to-people travel is educational travel that: (i) does not involve academic study pursuant to a degree program; and (ii) does not take place under the auspices of an organization that is subject to U.S. jurisdiction that sponsors such exchanges to promote people-to-people contact.” See U.S. Dep't of the Treasury Office of Foreign Assets Control, Frequently Asked Questions on President Trump's Cuba Announcement (June 16, 2017), available at https://www.treasury.gov/resource-center/sanctions/Programs/Documents/cuba_faqs_20170616.pdf.]

20 Background Briefing on the President's Cuba Policy, supra note 1; see also White House Press Release, Fact Sheet on Cuba Policy (June 16, 2017), at https://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2017/06/16/fact-sheet-cuba-policy.

21 White House Press Release, National Security Presidential Memorandum on Strengthening the Policy of the United States Toward Cuba (June 16, 2017), at https://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2017/06/16/national-security-presidential-memorandum-strengthening-policy-united.

22 Background Briefing on the President's Cuba Policy, supra note 1.

23 See supra notes 5–10.

24 Frances Robles & Kirk Semple, ‘Health Attacks’ on U.S. Diplomats in Cuba Baffle Both Countries, N.Y. Times (Aug. 11, 2017), at https://www.nytimes.com/2017/08/11/world/americas/cuba-united-states-embassy-diplomats-illness.html.

25 U.S. Dep't of State Press Release, Press Briefing (Aug. 9, 2017), at https://www.state.gov/r/pa/prs/dpb/2017/08/273288.htm.

26 Id.

27 Id. (reflecting a corrected version of the transcript, which initially referred to the “Geneva Convention”).

28 Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations, Art. 22(2), Apr. 18, 1961, 500 UNTS 95 [hereinafter VCDR].

29 Matthew Lee, Cuba Denies Role in ‘Sonic Attacks’ that Left U.S. Diplomats with Brain Damage, Time (Sept. 19, 2017), at http://time.com/4949115/cuba-sonic-attack-brain-damage-deaf.

30 Cuba's Representative Office Abroad Press Release, Cuban Foreign Minister Meets with US Secretary of State (Sept. 26, 2017), at http://misiones.minrex.gob.cu/en/articulo/press-release-cuban-foreign-minister-meets-us-secretary-state.

31 U.S. Dep't of State Press Release, Actions Taken in Response to Attacks on U.S. Government Personnel in Cuba (Sept. 29, 2017), at https://www.state.gov/secretary/remarks/2017/09/274514.htm.

32 U.S. Dep't of State Press Release, Cuba Travel Warning (Sept. 29, 2017), at https://travel.state.gov/content/passports/en/alertswarnings/cuba-travel-warning.html.

33 U.S. Embassy in Cuba Press Release, Security Message for U.S. Citizens: Cuba Travel Warning (Sept. 29, 2017), at https://cu.usembassy.gov/security-message-u-s-citizens-cuba-travel-warning.

34 U.S. Embassy in Cuba, Visas, at https://cu.usembassy.gov/visas; see also Ernesto Londoño, U.S. Halt in Visa Services Leaves Cuban Families in Limbo, N.Y. Times (Oct. 5, 2017), at https://www.nytimes.com/2017/10/05/world/americas/cuba-us-visas.html.

35 Cuba's Representative Office Abroad Press Release, Statement to the Press by General Director for US Affairs, Josefina Vidal Ferreiro (Sept. 29, 2017), at http://misiones.minrex.gob.cu/en/articulo/statement-press-general-director-us-affairs-josefina-vidal-ferreiro.

36 U.S. Dep't of State Press Release, Press Briefing (Oct. 3, 2017), at https://www.state.gov/r/pa/prs/dpb/2017/10/274592.htm [hereinafter Oct. 3 Press Briefing]; see also U.S. Dep't of State Press Release, Press Statement, Rex W. Tillerson, Washington, DC (Oct. 3, 2017), at https://www.state.gov/secretary/remarks/2017/10/274570.htm.

37 Oct. 3 Press Briefing, supra note 36.

38 Id.

39 Gardiner Harris, Julie Hirschfeld Davis & Ernesto Londoño, U.S. Expels 15 Cuban Diplomats, in Latest Sign Détente May Be Ending, N.Y. Times (Oct. 3, 2017), at https://www.nytimes.com/2017/10/03/world/americas/us-cuba-diplomats.html; see also VCDR, supra note 27, Art. 9.

40 Harris, Hirschfeld Davis & Londoño, supra note 39.

41 Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Cuba Press Release, Sixth Cuba-US Bilateral Commission Meeting Held in Washington DC (Sept. 19, 2017), at http://www.minrex.gob.cu/en/sixth-cuba-us-bilateral-commission-meeting-held-washington-dc. The media note from the U.S. Department of State did not directly address these agreements, saying instead: “The delegations also reviewed the Administration's priorities and areas for engagement in the interests of the United States and the Cuban people, including human rights; implementation of the Migration Accords; and protecting the national security and public health and safety of the United States.” U.S. Dep't of State Press Release, United States and Cuba Hold Sixth Bilateral Commission Meeting in Washington, DC (Sept. 20, 2017), at https://www.state.gov/r/pa/prs/ps/2017/09/274281.htm.