Associated Press New York, New York 29 July 2021
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U.S.-Cuba Trade and Economic Council, Inc. New York, New York Telephone (917) 453-6726 • E-mail: [email protected] Internet: http://www.cubatrade.org • Twitter: @CubaCouncil Facebook: www.facebook.com/uscubatradeandeconomiccouncil LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/company/u-s--cuba-trade-and-economic-council-inc- Associated Press New York, New York 29 July 2021 US to study internet access for Cubans; more sanctions By E. EDUARDO CASTILLO President Joe Biden announces from the East Room of the White House in Washington, Thursday, July 29, 2021, that millions of federal workers must show proof they've received a coronavirus vaccine or submit to regular testing and stringent social distancing, masking and travel restrictions in an order to combat the spread of the coronavirus. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh) MEXICO CITY (AP) — U.S. President Joe Biden will meet with Cuban-American leaders Friday to discuss the recent social protests in Cuba, the possibility of new sanctions on its government and options for providing internet access to the island’s population. The afternoon White House meeting, previewed for The Associated Press by an administration official, will take place almost three weeks after unusual July 11 protests in which thousands of Cubans took to the streets in Havana and other cities to protest the shortage of products, power outages and government policies. They were the first such protests since the 1990s. Among the people who will meet with Biden is Yotuel Romero, one of the authors of the song “Patria y vida!” which has become a kind of anthem for the protests, said the official, who spoke on condition on anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the plans in public. Also present will be L. Felice Gorordo, CEO of the company eMerge Americas; Ana Sofía Peláez, founder of the Miami Freedom Project, and Miami’s former mayor, Manny Díaz, among others. The White House did not provide more details, only saying that new sanctions will be discussed as well as ways to establish internet access for the Cuban people. Internet access is a sensitive issue in Cuba. In the days before the recent protests, there were calls for antigovernment demonstrations on social media. Cuba’s government said anti-Castro groups in the United States have used social media, particularly Twitter, to campaign against it and blamed Twitter for doing nothing to stop it. Internet service was cut off at one point during the July 11 protest, though Cuban authorities have not explicitly acknowledged that they did so. Some U.S. leaders, including Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, have said the White House should do something to maintain internet service in Cuba, including using balloons as Wi-Fi access points for the population. José Miguel Vivanco, Human Rights Watch’s director for the Americas, said protecting internet access in Cuba “must be one of the top priorities” of the Biden administration. “The growing access to the internet on the island has been a true revolution that has allowed the population to communicate, organize protests and report abuses almost immediately - something that would have been impossible a few years ago,” he said to the AP. Regarding the sanctions, Vivanco said their value is “mostly symbolic,” because it is not realistic to think that they alone will change the situation on the island. He said one way to stop human rights violations in Cuba is a “multilateral and coordinated condemnation,” along with moving toward a policy that puts an end to the current embargo. In addition to the internet, the Biden administration is considering proposals put forward by U.S. advocates of trade with Cuba that would restore ways for Cuban-Americans to send money to relatives on the island. Biden and others have rejected the outright restoration of remittances because of a percentage fee of the transaction paid to the government. But under one proposal being considered, the transfer agents would waive that fee until the end of the year, according to proponents. The proposal would have to be cleared by the Cuban government, however, and it is not at all clear it would agree. Last week, the U.S. government announced sanctions against the Minister of the Cuban Armed Forces, Álvaro López Miera, and the Special Brigade of the Ministry of the Interior -- known as the “black berets” — for having participated in the arrest of protesters. International organizations have harshly criticized the Cuban government, which has said that while people affected by the country’s crisis participated in the protests there were also “criminals” who took advantage of the situation to create disturbances. At times, the protests turned into vandalism with looting, robbery and confrontations with the police. Government sympathizers also took to the streets to defend the authorities and the revolution. So far it is unclear how many people were detained in total, although the judicial authorities have said there have been 19 trials involving 59 people. CNN Atlanta, Georgia 29 July 2021 Trump's inroads with Florida Latinos are influencing Democratic response to Cuba By Michael Warren, Dan Merica and Nicole Gaouette, CNN Cubans take part in a demonstration in support of Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel's government in Arroyo Naranjo Municipality, Havana, on July 12, 2021. (CNN)Democrats in South Florida, beleaguered by a tough 2020 election in the state, have been privately and publicly urging their party leaders to embrace the protests against Cuba's communist regime that are roiling the island nation. Their reasoning is as much personal -- these Democrats believe supporting the protests is the right thing to do -- as it is political -- standing with the Cuban people could help the party regain ground with the state's diverse Hispanic voters, nearly half of whom voted for then-President Donald Trump in 2020 in a nearly 10-point swing from four years before. Annette Taddeo, a Democratic state senator from Miami-Dade County, has called on President Joe Biden to visit Miami to show solidarity with the rare demonstrations in Cuba, which have brought thousands into the streets calling for freedom, better economic conditions, internet access and an end to the dictatorship. An appearance by the Democratic President, Taddeo told CNN, would go a long way with Cuban American and other Latino voters in South Florida. "The politics come with being there," she said. Florida has long been one of the most prized states in politics, gaining outsized influence because of its size, diversity and the way it swung between Democrats and Republicans for years. In recent years, however, the state has tilted right, backing Trump in 2016 and 2020. Republican inroads Taddeo, a Colombian immigrant, says she has been in touch with officials in the White House and has held public events on the Cuban protests with other prominent South Florida Democrats, such as Miami-Dade Mayor Daniella Levine Cava and Rep. Debbie Wasserman-Schultz. Despite hopes and even expectations that Biden would replicate former President Barack Obama's foreign policy on Cuba -- normalizing and expanding diplomatic relations, relaxing decades-old travel and trade restrictions -- he has yet to fulfil his campaign promises to roll back the Trump administration's Cuba sanctions or open up relations again. Indeed, six months into Biden's presidency, the White House has yet to complete its review on Cuba policy. In large part, that's because of Florida politics and a growing concern among Democrats that the inroads Republican made in South Florida in the 2020 election will become an even bigger issue in the coming years -- particularly as the state is set to gain another seat in the House of Representatives after the 2020 census. Asked how much Florida politics are shaping the Biden administration's Cuba policy, administration officials sidestepped the question but stressed their interest in the welfare and freedoms of the Cuban people as well as in increasing US Embassy staffing on the island to better engage with Cuban civil society amid the unprecedented protests It's unclear where the administration's official policy on Cuba will land. But Democrats in Washington are getting the message from South Florida and are emphasizing how tough the administration has been in response to the protests. The Democratic National Committee launched targeted English- and Spanish- language digital ads this week in the Sunshine State that highlight Biden's recent punitive actions against the Cuban government. Biden says Cuba is a 'failed state' and calls communism 'a universally failed system' "We have a huge opportunity here with a President who is more forceful on Cuba where many Democratic presidents in recent memory may not have been as forceful," a senior Democrat said of Biden's response to the Cuban crackdowns. "There is some real opportunity here. We have something very concrete that, across the ideologic spectrum -- save maybe the farthest of the far left -- is supported." The Democrat added that many in the party's leadership believe Trump's dominance in South Florida was "more of an aberration than some sort of liner trajectory for how Democrats can perform in South Florida." This push from South Florida Democrats like Taddeo reflects how the party is looking for ways to break the GOP's hold on the closely split state. In 2020, Republicans made significant inroads with an array of Latino voters in South Florida, including Cubans, Colombians and Venezuelans. The increase was so significant that Trump was able to become the first Republican presidential candidate since 1976 to lose Duval County in North Florida -- a longtime Republican bastion -- and still win the state by more than 3 percentage points. During the campaign, Republicans portrayed Democrats as soft on communist regimes, emphasizing how Trump had reversed much of the "thaw" in US-Cuba relations during Obama's second term.