In September, US President Joe Biden extended Cuba’s listing under the Trading With the Enemy Act (TWEA) of 1917 for another year, as he put it, “in the national interest of the United States.” The decision followed the US refusal to remove Cuba from the State Sponsors of Terrorism (SSOT), although in May this year, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken struck Cuba off the list of countries it said didn’t fully cooperate on counterterrorism.
The TWEA legislation came into existence during World War I, under President Woodrow Wilson. It originally targeted countries, individuals, or entities the US designated enemies, the latter through residence or business dealings. Over the decades, the legislation notched up amendment after amendment, each one granting the US president increased capacity to make use of the legislation. Such as in the later case of Cuba, the use of the TWEA “outside the context of a declared war” after 1945 allowed the US to leverage its power in the Cold War era and beyond.
In 1961, a Secretary of State memorandum cautioned President Dwight D. Eisenhower against rushing to apply the TWEA to Cuba, noting that the Export Control Act had already kept an embargo of the island in place. Worse, though, the memorandum warned that invoking the TWEA would come off as a unilateral move against Cuba. Such action would have countered the policy of multilateral action under the Organization of American States (OAS) and the Rio Treaty.
“Diminishing the Threat of Communism”
By January 1962, the OAS had expelled Cuba after the revolutionary government officially identified itself as Marxist-Leninist. The decision came amid a series of US foreign policy plans, starting with the 1950 Four Point Program, which focused on “diminishing the threat of communism by helping countries prosper under capitalism.” A few months after the Bay of Pigs invasion, President John F. Kennedy set up the US Agency for International Development (USAID) which was responsible for implementing the 1961 Foreign Assistance Act. Just a month after Cuba’s expulsion from the OAS, Kennedy implemented the US embargo on the country through Executive Order 3447.
Several pieces of US legislation have extended the embargo on Cuba. Besides the 1961 Foreign Assistance Act, the 1962 Cuban Assets Control Regulations, the 1992 Cuban Democracy Act, the 1996 Hems-Burton Act and the 2000 Trade Sanction Reform and Export Enhancement Act, are all reinforcements of the 1917 TWEA, which is the main underpinning of US hostility against Cuba. In fact, Cuba is the only country the TWEA still lists.
The Cuban-American Role
In his 2020 presidential campaign, Biden’s rhetoric seemed to hint at a possible reversal of the Trump administration’s policies on Cuba. However, a closer look at his statements suggests he hadn’t abandoned the decades-long intent to topple the revolution which the US hoped would die with Fidel Castro.
Biden had stated he would return to former US President Barack Obama’s engagement with Cuba, which included the normalization of relations between both countries and which was reversed by Trump during his term in office. However, in statements that speak of decades-long US policy of interference, Biden also said that the US would be “empowering the Cuban people to freely determine their own outcome, their own future.”
In his 2020 presidential campaign, Biden’s rhetoric seemed to hint at a possible reversal of the Trump administration’s policies on Cuba.
“Cuban-Americans,” he said, “are the best ambassadors for freedom in Cuba.” When Cuba experienced food and medical shortages during COVID-19 in 2021, Cuban Americans called for US intervention. Miami Mayor Francis Suarez, the son of a Cuban exile, announced it was time to consider “a coalition of potential military action in Cuba.”
“We ask our nation intervenes to help the Cuban people break the chains that have kept them in shackles for so many years,” a joint letter signed by Cuban-American mayors partly read. The letter mentions the food and medicine shortages, but the US embargo on Cuba doesn’t make an appearance, much like it rarely shows up in the American political discourse, despite its key role in throttling the Cuban economy.
The US Embargo
In July, the Cuban Foreign Ministry published a report which details the ramifications of the US embargo on Cuba, noting that the Biden administration further tightened sanctions which made it more difficult for the island to cope during the COVID-19 pandemic. While the US busied itself imposing sanctions, Cuban medical brigades were providing their services internationally, even in Western countries such as Italy.
Financial statistics paint a bleak picture. The Cuban report notes that from March 2023 until February 2024, “the blockade caused material damages to Cuba estimated at USD 5,056,800,000.” In six decades of the illegal blockade, Cuba sustained damages to the tune of USD 164,141,100,000.
In fact, the US embargo doesn’t leave any sector of society untouched. Cuba’s health sector, for example, is suffering from shortages as companies abroad are affected by the blockade’s regulations that prohibit business dealings with the island. European countries, for example, will not sell products of US origin to Cuba. The spare parts needed to fix air conditioning in operating rooms cannot be sold by France because the company is owned by a US transnational. Out of 651 essential medicines in Cuba, 51% are not available. As a result of medical shortages, the waiting list for surgeries has reached a total of 86,141 patients.
Food and Education
Domestic food production has also taken a hit because it’s impossible to import spare parts for machinery. Meanwhile, Cuba’s attempts to export materials, such as charcoal, face roadblocks because banks would hit US sanctions while attempting to make financial transfers to the country. Local production of eggs, rice, and milk have decreased by 61%, 81%, and 49%, respectively.
The US embargo also takes a harsh toll on education, which, along with health agrarian reform, was one of the main pillars of the Cuban revolution. The shortages in raw material have affected the manufacturing of school uniforms and stationery items required for school, as well as the printing of textbooks. Because US companies partly own some of the technological equipment, education cooperation projects have also faced suspension.
In terms of time and finances, 38 hours without the embargo would suffice to cover for the production of study materials at $21,789,000, while 44 hours would cover the cost of the required 21,000 computers in Cuba’s educational institutions at $25,200,000.
Collapsing Electrical Grid
The ban on tourism to Cuba for American citizens, caused losses at $2,400,700,000 between 2023 and 2024. Playing upon the SSOT designation, tourists visiting Cuba would not be eligible for the Electronic System for Travel Authorization under the visa-waiver program. This also dissuades European tourists from traveling to Cuba, besides constituting a violation of freedom of movement.
The Cuban Democracy Act of 1992 underpins sanctions against countries providing assistance to Cuba, making countries ineligible for foreign assistance under the1961 Foreign Assistance Act, the Arms Export Control Act, as well as for forgiveness of debt owed to the US. What would it take to terminate the sanctions? According to that legislation, the president would have to report to “Congress that Cuba has met the conditions established under this act concerning democracy, human rights, and a free market economy.”
Meanwhile, as Cubans face increasing difficulties over the collapse of the country’s electrical grid and lack of oil supply notably from Venezuela and Russia, the UN General Assembly once again voted in favor of ending the US embargo on Cuba, with 187 votes in favor, two votes against from Israel and the US, and one abstention from Moldova.
Trump’s Return
Throughout this year’s US presidential campaign, the campaigns of both Donald Trump and Kamala Harris were largely silent on Cuba. Now, Trump will return to the White House for a second time in January, and his administration will likely maintain the same hardline policies he previously employed toward the island.
Biden maintained the status quo created by Trump’s re-designation of Cuba as a state sponsor of terrorism. Under the National Endowment for Democracy, Biden spent $20 million annually in “democracy promotion,” according to former CIA analyst Fulton Armstrong. He also promoted Cuban-American interests to the point that some prominent Cuban exiles in Miami and their descendants called for military intervention instead of lifting the embargo on Cuba.
Cuba is already facing immense hardships, but Trump will likely double down on his past policies, increase sanctions, and introduce more severe restrictions on travel to Cuba, as well as maintain the SSOT designation that has already caused the island widespread difficulties. It is probable that just as in the case of the Trading with the Enemy Act of 1917 and its eventual expansion to encompass the needs of the US government, Trump will be closing any possible loopholes in the existing legislation that is already driving Cuba to the brink of economic collapse.
Trump’s choice for US Secretary of State is also likely to play a role in foreign policy towards the island. US Senator Marco Rubio, a Cuban-American living in Miami, stands out from the majority of Cuban exiles as his family immigrated to the US during Fulgencio Batista’s dictatorship. But Rubio still cast his lot with the Cuban exiles calling for the overthrow of the Cuban revolution.
Cold War Rhetoric Renewed
During Obama’s presidency, Rubio opposed the normalization of relations between Washington and Havana. In 2021, Rubio introduced a bill that, if passed, would have prevented Biden or Blinken from removing Cuba’s SSOT designation. The bill reappeared in 2023.
This year, Rubio lashed out against the Biden administration’s decision to remove Cuba from the NFCC list, stating that the decision “allowed officials of this terrorist-sympathizing regime to access secure facilities in US airports, jeopardizing the well-being of our citizens and safety measures.”
While never far from US politics, Rubio’s appointment as secretary of state would allow Cuban exiles in Miami to exert forceful sway over US-Cuba politics. With no policies to reverse, Cuba will likely feature prominently in the crosshairs of imperialism under Trump and, with Rubio, see an escalation of cold-war rhetoric in a post cold-war era.
