In June 2017, President Donald Trump announced a plan to roll back various steps taken by his predecessor toward normalizing relations between the United States and Cuba. A senior official for the administration announced the plan in a White House press briefing:
The President vowed to reverse the Obama administration policies toward Cuba that have enriched the Cuban military regime and increased the repression on the island. It is a promise that President Trump made, and it's a promise that President Trump is keeping.
With this is a readjustment of the United States policy towards Cuba. And you will see that, going forward, the new policy under the Trump administration, will empower the Cuban people. To reiterate, the new policy going forward does not target the Cuban people, but it does target the repressive members of the Cuban military government.Footnote 1
Relations between the United States and Cuba had been rife with conflict for more than half a century when, in 2014, President Obama initiated a major shift in U.S. policy and announced a plan to “reestablish diplomatic relations … , review Cuba's designation as a State Sponsor of Terrorism …[, and] take[] steps to increase travel, commerce, and the flow of information to and from Cuba.”Footnote 2 The U.S. Treasury and Commerce Departments subsequently revised various regulations to “facilitate travel to Cuba for authorized purposes, … and allow a number of … activities related to, among other areas, telecommunications, financial services, trade, and shipping.”Footnote 3 In the months and years that followed, the United States and Cuba took further steps to normalize ties.Footnote 4 The final weeks of the Obama administration yielded bilateral agreements with the Cuban government on a range of issues, including: a memorandum of understanding relating to plant and animal health to facilitate trade in agricultural goods;Footnote 5 a treaty to delimit the maritime boundary between the two countries in the eastern Gulf of Mexico;Footnote 6 an agreement to improve the environmental management of protected areas in Cuba and Florida;Footnote 7 an “agreement to strengthen cooperation in the field of maritime and aeronautical search and rescue”;Footnote 8 a “Memorandum of Understanding to deepen law enforcement cooperation and information sharing”;Footnote 9 and an “agreement to prepare for and respond to oil spills and hazardous substance pollution in the Gulf of Mexico and the Straits of Florida.”Footnote 10
In addition, on January 12, 2017, President Obama ended the “wet foot/dry foot” policy on Cuban immigration to the United States.Footnote 11 That policy had been adopted by the Clinton Administration in 1995 and, as explained by the New York Times, “owes its name to its unusual rules, which require Cubans caught trying to reach the United States by sea to return home, yet allow those who make it onto American soil to stay and eventually apply for legal, permanent residency.”Footnote 12 Obama explained the policy change:
Today, the United States is taking important steps forward to normalize relations with Cuba and to bring greater consistency to our immigration policy. The Department of Homeland Security is ending the so-called “wet-foot/dry foot” policy, which was put in place more than twenty years ago and was designed for a different era. Effective immediately, Cuban nationals who attempt to enter the United States illegally and do not qualify for humanitarian relief will be subject to removal, consistent with U.S. law and enforcement priorities. By taking this step, we are treating Cuban migrants the same way we treat migrants from other countries. The Cuban government has agreed to accept the return of Cuban nationals who have been ordered removed, just as it has been accepting the return of migrants interdicted at sea.Footnote 13
The Cuban government had condemned the “dry feet-wet feet” policy as “a stimulus for irregular migration, trafficking of migrants and irregular entry into the United States” and as “an incitement to illegal exits” that led to
migratory crises, hijacking of ships and aircraft and the commission of crimes, such as trafficking in migrants, trafficking in persons, immigration fraud and the use of violence with a destabilizing extraterritorial impact on other countries of the region, used as transit to arrive in US territory.Footnote 14
As a candidate, President Trump criticized his predecessor's policies with respect to Cuba, and articulated his intention to reverse them.Footnote 15 In February 2017, shortly after President Trump was sworn into office, he ordered a full review of U.S. policy toward Cuba.Footnote 16 Two months later, anonymous sources within the Trump administration informed journalists that the administration was working on plans to roll back the renewal of diplomatic ties.Footnote 17 The president's plan was officially announced one month later, on June 15.Footnote 18 A senior administration official previewed some elements during a White House press briefing the evening before the plan was announced:
There's a few components of it. One part is … measures designed to restrict the flow of money to the oppressive elements of the Cuban regime—the military, intelligence, and security services.
There are also measures to ensure that the statutory ban on tourism is strictly enforced, which will include ending the individual people-to-people travel.Footnote 19 There are 12 categories of travel that are permitted still, but the one of the individual people-to-people travel was one that was at the highest risk of potential abuse of the statutory ban on tourism. And then there are several other components of the policy that you'll see tomorrow that relate to the supporting requirements ensuring that these regulations are enforced.Footnote 20
The policy itself is reflected in a National Security Presidential Memorandum on Strengthening the Policy of the United States Toward Cuba. That Memorandum provides, in part, that:
It shall be the policy of the executive branch to:
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(a) End economic practices that disproportionately benefit the Cuban government or its military, intelligence, or security agencies or personnel at the expense of the Cuban people.
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(b) Ensure adherence to the statutory ban on tourism to Cuba.
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(c) Support the economic embargo of Cuba described in section 4(7) of the Cuban Liberty and Democratic Solidarity (LIBERTAD) Act of 1996 (the embargo), including by opposing measures that call for an end to the embargo at the United Nations and other international forums and through regular reporting on whether the conditions of a transition government exist in Cuba.
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(d) Amplify efforts to support the Cuban people through the expansion of internet services, free press, free enterprise, free association, and lawful travel.
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(e) Not reinstate the “Wet Foot, Dry Foot” policy, which encouraged untold thousands of Cuban nationals to risk their lives to travel unlawfully to the United States.
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(f) Ensure that engagement between the United States and Cuba advances the interests of the United States and the Cuban people. These interests include: advancing Cuban human rights; encouraging the growth of a Cuban private sector independent of government control; enforcing final orders of removal against Cuban nationals in the United States; protecting the national security and public health and safety of the United States, including through proper engagement on criminal cases and working to ensure the return of fugitives from American justice living in Cuba or being harbored by the Cuban government; supporting United States agriculture and protecting plant and animal health; advancing the understanding of the United States regarding scientific and environmental challenges; and facilitating safe civil aviation.Footnote 21
The memorandum thus reflects both change and continuity. As explained during the White House press briefing, the changes would be implemented by regulations that would be subsequently adopted by the secretaries of Treasury and Commerce.Footnote 22 The decision not to reinstate the “wet foot, dry foot” policy reflects continuity with the Obama administration's abandonment of that policy; in addition, some of the shared “interests” of the United States and the Cuban people track the subjects of the bilateral agreements that the United States had reached with Cuba at the end of the Obama administration.Footnote 23
In addition to rolling out this policy, the Trump Administration has also contended with a bizarre series of medical issues plaguing U.S. diplomats in the country. A press report indicated that at least six diplomats had been flown to the University of Miami's hospital since the beginning of the year, suffering from symptoms including headaches, dizziness, and hearing loss that, according to one source, appeared to have been caused by some kind of sonic wave machine.Footnote 24
A State Department spokesperson first acknowledged the problem during a press conference on August 9, 2017, saying:
[S]ome U.S. Government personnel who were working at our embassy in Havana, Cuba on official duties—so they were there working on behalf of the U.S. embassy there—they've reported some incidents which have caused a variety of physical symptoms. I'm not going to be able to give you a ton of information about this today, but I'll tell you what we do have that we can provide so far.
We don't have any definitive answers about the source or the cause of what we consider to be incidents. We can tell you that on May 23rd, the State Department took further action. We asked two officials who were accredited at the Embassy of Cuba in the United States to depart the United States. Those two individuals have departed the United States. We take this situation very seriously. One of the things we talk about here often is that the safety and security of American citizens at home and abroad is our top priority. We're taking that situation seriously and it's under investigation right now.Footnote 25
In response to journalists’ questions, the spokesperson said that “we first heard about these incidents back in late 2016,” and they have caused some State Department employees to seek medical attention: “What this requires is providing medical examinations to these people. Initially when they started reporting what I will just call symptoms, it took time to figure out what this was, and this is still ongoing. So we're monitoring it.”Footnote 26 The spokesperson also noted Cuba's international obligations:
The Cuban Government has a responsibility and an obligation under the [Vienna] Convention to protect our diplomats, so that is part of the reason why this is such a major concern of ours, why we take this so seriously, and in addition to the protection and security of Americans.Footnote 27
Under the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations, the state hosting a diplomatic mission “is under a special duty to take all appropriate steps to protect the premises of the mission against any intrusion or damage and to prevent any disturbance of the peace of the mission or impairment of its dignity.”Footnote 28
Cuba has repeatedly denied any role in the incidents. On September 19, the Cuban embassy in Washington DC issued the following statement:
Cuba strictly observes its obligations to protect foreign diplomats on its soil. Cuba has never perpetrated nor will it ever perpetrate actions of this nature, and has never permitted nor will it ever permit any third-party use of its territory for this purpose. Footnote 29
On September 26, U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson met with Bruno Rodríguez Parrilla, the Cuban Minister of Foreign Affairs. According to a press release from the Cuban ministry of foreign affairs:
The Cuban Foreign Minister reiterated the seriousness, celerity and professionalism with which the Cuban authorities have taken on this issue. Following instructions from the top level of the Cuban government, a priority investigation was opened as from the moment these incidents were first reported and additional measures were adopted to protect the US diplomats and their relatives. This has been recognized by the representatives of the US specialized agencies who have travelled to Cuba as from June, whose visits have been considered as positive by the Cuban counterparts.
Minister Bruno reiterated to Secretary Tillerson how important it was for the US authorities to cooperate, in an effective way, with the Cuban authorities in order to clarify these incidents, which are unprecedented in Cuba.
He likewise reaffirmed Secretary Tillerson that the decision and the argument claimed by the US Government to withdraw two Cuban diplomats from Washington were unwarranted and emphasized that Cuba strictly abides by its obligations under the Vienna Convention on the protection and integrity of diplomats, an area in which it keeps an impeccable record.
He reaffirmed that the Cuban government has never perpetrated nor will it ever perpetrate attacks of any kind against diplomats. The Cuban government has never permitted nor will it ever permit the use of its territory by third parties for this purpose.Footnote 30
Despite the Cuban government's assurances, at the end of September, the U.S. State Department ordered the withdrawal of all non-emergency employees from the Cuban embassy. Tillerson announced:
Over the past several months, 21 U.S. Embassy employees have suffered a variety of injuries from attacks of an unknown nature. The affected individuals have exhibited a range of physical symptoms, including ear complaints, hearing loss, dizziness, headache, fatigue, cognitive issues, and difficulty sleeping. Investigators have been unable to determine who is responsible or what is causing these attacks.
On September 29, the Department ordered the departure of non-emergency personnel assigned to the U.S. Embassy in Havana, as well as all family members. Until the Government of Cuba can ensure the safety of our diplomats in Cuba, our Embassy will be reduced to emergency personnel in order to minimize the number of diplomats at risk of exposure to harm.
In conjunction with the ordered departure of our diplomatic personnel, the Department has issued a Travel Warning advising U.S. citizens to avoid travel to Cuba and informing them of our decision to draw down our diplomatic staff. We have no reports that private U.S. citizens have been affected, but the attacks are known to have occurred in U.S. diplomatic residences and hotels frequented by U.S. citizens. The Department does not have definitive answers on the cause or source of the attacks and is unable to recommend a means to mitigate exposure.
The decision to reduce our diplomatic presence in Havana was made to ensure the safety of our personnel. We maintain diplomatic relations with Cuba, and our work in Cuba continues to be guided by the national security and foreign policy interests of the United States. Cuba has told us it will continue to investigate these attacks and we will continue to cooperate with them in this effort.
The health, safety, and well-being of our Embassy community is our greatest concern. We will continue to aggressively investigate these attacks until the matter is resolved.Footnote 31
The travel advisory Tillerson referenced warns U.S. citizens not to travel to Cuba, explaining: “Because our personnel's safety is at risk, and we are unable to identify the source of the attacks, we believe U.S. citizens may also be at risk and warn them not to travel to Cuba.”Footnote 32 A notice issued the same day by the U.S. embassy in Havana informed travelers: “Due to the drawdown in staff, the U.S. Embassy in Havana has limited ability to assist U.S. citizens. The Embassy will provide only emergency services to U.S. citizens.”Footnote 33 In addition, the U.S. embassy informed visa applicants that, as of September 29, “the U.S. Department of State suspended almost all visa processing in Havana,” and that the U.S. Embassy in Havana has cancelled “[a]ll previously-scheduled nonimmigrant and immigrant visa interview appointments.”Footnote 34
In response, Josefina Vidal, a senior Cuban diplomat, said:
We consider that the decision announced by the Department of State is hasty and that it will affect the bilateral relations, specifically, the cooperation in matters of mutual interest and the exchanges on different fields between both countries.
I wish to reaffirm Cuba's willingness to continue an active cooperation between the authorities of both countries, to fully clarify these incidents, for which purpose a more effective involvement by the United States will be essential.Footnote 35
Notwithstanding these affirmations from the Cuban government, a few days later, the Department of State ordered the departure of fifteen officials from the Cuban Embassy in Washington DC. Announcing the decision, a State Department spokesperson said:
The decisions do not signal a change of policy or determination of responsibility for the attacks on U.S. Government personnel in Cuba. Investigations into those attacks are still ongoing. Regarding the attacks, there are now 22 people who have been medically confirmed to have experienced health effects due to the attacks on diplomatic personnel in Havana. The Cuban Government has told us it will continue the investigation into the attacks, and we will continue to cooperate with them in this effort. We will also continue our own investigation into the attacks.Footnote 36
The spokesperson explained that the decision to expel the Cuban diplomats was made “due to Cuba's inability to protect our diplomats in Havana, as well as to ensure equity in the impact of our respective operations.”Footnote 37 In response to a question from a journalist about how the individuals were chosen, she said:
The people serving here in their embassy did what we believe some of the similar jobs as our folks down in the embassy in Cuba. We have a reduced ability to do our work in Cuba because of the attacks on our Americans, okay? They now will have a reduced ability to do their jobs as well.Footnote 38
Opponents of normalizing relations with Cuba cheered this development and urged the Trump administration to go still further and declare all Cuban diplomats in the United States “persona non grata.”Footnote 39 The Cuban foreign minister, however, described the expulsion of Cuban diplomats as “eminently political” as well as “unwarranted and unjustifiable.”Footnote 40
To date, it appears that neither the Trump administration's June 16 policy announcement nor the dispute over the medical problems suffered by U.S. diplomatic staff has precluded continued implementation of the bilateral agreements reached between Cuba and the United States. The United States has not publicly repudiated any of the agreements. For its part, Cuba affirmed its continued “readiness to actively implement the bilateral accords that have been formalized over the past two years” in September.Footnote 41
