Biden released this statement today on the Cuban protests the began happening over the weekend:
We stand with the Cuban people and their clarion call for freedom and relief from the tragic grip of the pandemic and from the decades of repression and economic suffering to which they have been subjected by Cuba’s authoritarian regime. The Cuban people are bravely asserting fundamental and universal rights. Those rights, including the right of peaceful protest and the right to freely determine their own future, must be respected. The United States calls on the Cuban regime to hear their people and serve their needs at this vital moment rather than enriching themselves.
It’s not the worst statement, but Biden doesn’t mention anything about the government being Communist, nor does he decry it. Instead, he simply calls it ‘authoritarian’ and tells it to begin ‘serving’ the people.
I do like that he says “We stand with the Cuban people and their clarion call for freedom and relief…from the decades of repression and economic suffering to which they have been subjected by Cuba’s authoritarian regime.”
But what he should have also done was to call on Miguel Díaz-Canel to step down and allow the people to have free and fair elections, asserting that Communism is evil and the people deserve to be free from its oppressive grip.
I also wish he would have acknowledged all of the American flag waving by the protesters. That’s something that certainly stands out to me.
When protests were happening in Venezuela, Trump actively opposed Maduro and even recognized a new interim president, even though that ultimately went nowhere. Beyond issuing a statement, I just don’t believe Biden will given anything more than lip service to supporting the people of Cuba to overthrow their government.
Lastly, I’ll just mention this from First TV:
A guest on CNN blames Trump for the crisis in Cuba. pic.twitter.com/3NtqU29R0j
— The First (@TheFirstonTV) July 12, 2021
They are right that the guest attributes some of this to Trump, but how exactly is that a bad thing? I would very much like to believe Trump’s embargo and travel policies on Cuba helped bring us to this point. We want protests. We want a revolution that ends with Cuba being free. That’s what these policies are all about.