By Staff Writer
Residents of Cayman hoping to take advantage of ex-US President Joe Biden’s lifting of travel restrictions on Cuba now have to rethink their plans.
As the saying goes, the ink had not even dried on the Biden reprieve before it was revoked by his successor (and former predecessor), now second-time President, Donald Trump.
The decision by ex-President Biden to remove Cuba from the list of countries deemed as state sponsors of terrorism(SST) was expected to open the pathway to making it easier for many interactions with Cuba, including travel by non-US citizens also planning to visit the United States.
The Biden order was also conditional on an agreement brokered by the Catholic church for the Cuban government to release over 500 political prisoners.
It would have also meant that residents of the Cayman Islands who visit Cuba would have had less hassle with their US ESTA (Electronic System for Travel Authorization). However, the Trump executive order reinstates the restrictions which means those ESTAs will once again be severely restricted and even suspended if they visit Cuba and subsequently plan to travel to the States.
Overturning the just days-old Biden executive order came in a flurry of new executive orders by President Trump within hours after being formally sworn in as the 47th President of the United States. He was also the 45th but lost the bid for a second consecutive term after losing the 2020 election.
Responding to the Trump decision, the Cuban government called it “an act of arrogance and contempt for the truth.”
“This act of mockery and abuse confirms the discredit of the lists and unilateral mechanisms of coercion of the United States Government,” said President Cuba’s Miguel Díaz-Canel.
“The legitimate and noble cause of our people will prevail, which will once again win,” he asserted.
Cuba has also consistently denied any support for terrorism. During his first term, President trump had slapped the SST on Cuba citing the government’s support for Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro
The Biden executive order to remove Cuba from the terrorism list was expected to relax other crippling US measures which have kept the country in an economic crisis. Cuba has been in the grips of a US trade embargo since 1958.
With Cuba now back on the US SST list is a clear indication of the new Trump administration’s intention to resume its hardline policies on Cuba which prominently featured in his first term as president.
Driving those policies now is new US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who is Cuban-American.
He has been a strong supporter of sanctions against Cuba both as a Florida legislator and a US Senator. Rubio had also stated before taking up his current post that he was in favour of reimposing the sanctions lifted by ex-President Biden.
In a foreign policy seesaw, the US restrictions now reimposed by Trump after being relaxed by Biden were previously reinstated during the first Trump administration after they were lifted by ex-President Barack Obama.
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