Washington is considering additional travel restrictions on Cuban officials expected to return to New York next month as tensions deepen over U.S. economic and energy measures against Havana.
By yourNEWS Media Newsroom.
The Trump administration is considering imposing tighter travel restrictions on Cuban officials expected to return to New York next month for the United Nations’ annual vote on the U.S. economic embargo, opening another front in Washington’s campaign to pressure Havana.
The State Department is weighing what officials described as “strict controls” on members of the Cuban delegation, according to U.S. officials and an internal document obtained by The Associated Press. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because the administration has not finalized the restrictions.
The possible measures come even though a sizable Cuban delegation was permitted to attend this week’s U.N. General Assembly.
Cuban officials already face significant movement restrictions while in the United States because Cuba is designated by Washington as a state sponsor of terrorism. Their travel in New York is generally limited to a 25-mile radius surrounding U.N. headquarters in Manhattan.
Additional restrictions could make it more difficult, or potentially impossible, for some Cuban officials to participate in next month’s General Assembly vote on the U.S. embargo, which has taken place annually for more than three decades.
The possible restrictions emerge as relations between Washington and Havana deteriorate further under President Donald Trump’s second administration.
Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodríguez, speaking Thursday during the General Assembly gathering, criticized U.S. policy and said there had been a “lack of progress” in contacts between the two governments.
“What defines the present status of the Cuba-U.S. relations is the brutal tightening of the economic and financial blockade and the total oil siege imposed on our country, which is equivalent to a naval blockade,” Rodríguez said in Spanish during an AP interview conducted through a translator.
Trump, addressing world leaders at the United Nations on Tuesday, described Cuba as a “failed state” and said his administration was “seeking a fundamental change in the situation in Cuba.”
“Communism will never be coming to America, but freedom will be coming to Cuba,” Trump said at the U.N.
The administration has sought to increase economic pressure on Havana by restricting fuel supplies to the island along with other financial and commercial measures.
Cuba has experienced severe electricity shortages during that period. Its power grid has collapsed at least six times since U.S. energy restrictions began at the start of the year, leaving millions of people without electricity.
Fuel shortages have affected the operation of Cuba’s thermoelectric power plants and complicated efforts to maintain aging infrastructure. Extended outages have disrupted daily activities including cooking, water distribution, internet access and telephone service.
The Trump administration has also expanded economic penalties against Cuban industries and increased enforcement of restrictions preventing Americans traveling to Cuba from conducting business with government-owned or government-affiliated entities.
Rodríguez said those policies have made cooperation between the two countries more difficult.
“These measures hamper some processes that could lead to discussion of things in the common interests of both nations,” Rodríguez said.
Despite the increasingly confrontational relationship, Rodríguez said Havana remains willing to communicate with Washington.
No meetings are currently scheduled between Cuban and U.S. officials, he said, but “Cuba remains willing to keep these channel of contacts open.”
Rodríguez, who has served as Cuba’s foreign minister since 2009, declined to disclose when officials from the two governments last held discussions.
He characterized previous conversations as “respectful” while saying that subsequent public statements and policy decisions from U.S. officials had been “extremely aggressive.”
Cuba has meanwhile introduced significant economic changes allowing greater private-sector activity on the island.
Rodríguez and other Cuban officials have said those reforms should not be interpreted as concessions to Washington, even though some of the changes move Cuba’s economy in a direction favored by the Trump administration.
The next diplomatic confrontation is expected when Rodríguez and other Cuban officials seek to return to New York for the annual General Assembly resolution opposing the American embargo.
The resolution has historically passed by overwhelming margins, leaving the United States with relatively few countries voting alongside it.
That isolation narrowed somewhat last year when Argentina, Ukraine and Hungary — countries aligned closely with the Trump administration — opposed the Cuban-backed resolution amid growing regional tensions involving U.S. military actions.
General Assembly resolutions are not legally binding but are widely viewed as measures of international opinion.
Rodríguez said last year that Washington had sought to persuade other governments to oppose the resolution. He said Cuban officials had been told by countries, primarily in Europe, that the State Department was encouraging them to vote against it.
A State Department spokesperson responded at the time that “the Cuban regime does not deserve the backing of America’s democratic allies.”
The administration’s consideration of additional travel controls now places the status of Cuba’s delegation itself at the center of the dispute ahead of the next vote, as both governments continue to trade accusations over economic pressure, political reform and the future of U.S.-Cuba relations.
Original article
Comments