HARDENING OFFICIAL AMERICAN ATTITUDES TOWARDS THE REGIME IN CUBA WILL IMPACT ITS ALLIES AND FRIENDS IN THE CARIBBEAN

If you noticed a distinct increase in the extremely critical attitude displayed towards Cuba recently, by American Secretary of State Marco Rubio in his latest interview, you were not alone. Rubio, a Cuban American whose family had returned to Cuba, and was then forced to flee it when Fidel Castro came into power, has now taken a more defiant posture, regarding the need for regime change there, stating that economic reform cannot occur with the present autocratic government, and reminding us that Cuba has "rolled out the welcome mat to adversaries of the United States to operate within Cuban territory against our national interests with impunity. We are not going to have a foreign military or intelligence or security apparatus operating with impunity 90 miles off the shores of the United States. That’s not going to happen under President Trump.” We must take this as an indication that, following the resolution of the war against Iran, we can expect the United States to return to its previous focus on the Caribbean, meaning both Cuba and the ever increasing influence of the Peoples' Republic of China. This is not good news for the left-leaning states of the Eastern Caribbean, several of whom continue to have close ties to both autocratic states, to the displeasure of the current American administration. This is unwise, and it is expected that the few restrictions America has chosen of late to impose upon certain of the Caribbean states are bound to increase, adding to not only the displeasure of its citizens, but to the economic stability of those republics. The American visa restrictions imposed upon Antigua and Dominica could be only the initial salvo from America's tool kit, as it seeks to rein in its neighbors, due to a perception that their relations with Cuba and China have become a National Security threat. The next Caribbean actions of Secretary Marco Rubio, a known declared adversary of both countries, deserve our close attention.