Former President Barack Obama’s administration displayed “casual cruelty” toward the Cuban people in his final year in office, according to a top American diplomat.
U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley issued an apology for Obama administration at the UN while debating an international resolution condemning the U.S. embargo of Cuba. She cited the Obama team’s refusal to vote against the resolution last year, in the face of broad opposition from the UN General Assembly.
“When the United States abstained on this resolution last year, its decision was explained by saying, ‘We recognize that the future of the island lies in the hands of the Cuban people,’” Haley said Wednesday in comments addressed to the Cuban people. “There is a casual cruelty to that remark for which I am profoundly sorry. Regrettably, as of today, the future of Cuba is not in your hands. It remains in the hands of your dictators.”
Haley declared that the U.S. would retain diplomatic relations with the Raul Castro regime, although some lawmakers have called for a cessation of ties in the wake of mysterious attacks on U.S. diplomats in Havana. But she said diplomatic relations send an important signal about the American disposition towards the Cuban people.
“That status is not changing,” Haley said. “Our friendship and good will toward the Cuban people remain as strong as ever.”
Proponents of stronger ties with Cuba argue that the Trump administration’s persistent support for the embargo hurts the Cuban people and isolates the U.S., which was on the losing side of today’s 191-2 vote against the embargo. Only Israel joined the U.S. in supporting the embargo.
“If the administration spoke to real Cubans, they would know that fears for the future are rooted in what a rollback of engagement means for their businesses, communities and families,” Engage Cuba President James Williams said Wednesday. “The Trump administration seems determined to stand alone in the world, supporting an archaic policy has failed for the last 55 years. And the biggest losers are the people of Cuba.”
Haley emphasized that the renewal of diplomatic relations by the Obama team has not led to reform within the Castro regime. “[The Cuban] government responded to this gesture of good will, not by joining in the spirit in which it was offered, but by expanding its politically motivated detentions, harassment, and violence against those who advocate for political and economic freedom in Cuba,” she said. “It disrupts peaceful assemblies. It censors independent journalists and rigs the economy so the government alone profits.”
Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., is among the congressional leaders who believe the State Department should close the U.S. embassy in Cuba. But he praised Haley, who endorsed his presidential candidacy during her tenure as South Carolina governor, for casting a vote against the anti-embargo resolution.
“While this resolution is only symbolic, the United States has once again sent a clear and unequivocal message to the Cuban people: we are on your side,” Rubio said in a Wednesday statement. “Despite the Obama administration’s unilateral concessions to the Castro regime, I remain hopeful that the Trump administration’s new policy toward Cuba will empower the Cuban people, and bring them closer to freedom and democracy. Ambassador Haley’s vote today is one more step in that direction.”
