During the 2016 presidential campaign, the Republican candidate Donald Trump adopted multiple positions about relations with Cuba, including suggesting that he supported President Obama’s rapprochement with the island. However, he could have gotten a better deal. After arriving in the White House, the real estate mogul launched an effort to roll back the normalization process initiated by his predecessor, Barack Obama.
During President Trump’s first term, US-Cuba relations saw important setbacks as militant anti-engagement sectors capitalized on the alleged sonic attacks on US diplomats in Havana. In addition to restricting the use of general licenses for traveling to Cuba, for the first time since 1996, the Trump administration opened US courts to claims presented under chapter III of the 1996 Helms-Burton (LIBERTAD) Act. Some observers claim that Trump has toughened policies towards Cuba beyond any reasonable measure. But Republican politicians, particularly in South Florida, are claiming that the current president could move even more energetically towards a confrontation with Cuba. On the other hand, some progress in bilateral ties has not been reversed. There are embassies in Washington and Havana, while some areas of cooperation between the coastguards and national security agencies of the two countries continue.
The panel will focus on what to expect if Trump is re-elected or not; what Cuba related issues will weigh heavily with voters, particularly in Florida. Is Trump’s approach to Cuba the result of a general policy towards the hemisphere or a domestic political calculation? Alternatively, the panelists will analyze to what degree a Democratic president will be able to restart the US-Cuba normalization process, given other priorities in the light of the global pandemic.
Speakers:
Dr. Margaret E. Crahan, Director of the Cuba Program at ILAS/ Columbia University
Dr. Philip Brenner, Professor at School of International Service/ American University
Dr. William LeoGrande, Professor of Government and Associate Vice Provost for Academic Affairs/ American Univerity
Moderator: Dr. Arturo Lopez-Levy, Professor of Politics and International Relations at Holy Names University and 2020 Fulbright Professor - Universidad Autónoma de Madrid.
Jointly sponsored with the Cuba Program/ILAS at Columbia University.
In collaboration with the Cuba Studies Program at DRCLAS / Harvard University; the Cuban Heritage Collection (CHC) / University of Miami, the Cuban Research Institute (CRI) / Florida International University, and the Department of International Relations at Holy Names University
