{"id":3498,"date":"2021-01-13T13:56:48","date_gmt":"2021-01-13T13:56:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.cubasupport.ie\/latest\/?p=3498"},"modified":"2021-01-13T13:56:53","modified_gmt":"2021-01-13T13:56:53","slug":"trumps-re-designation-of-cuba-as-a-terrorist-state-is-a-farce-for-the-rest-of-the-covid-stricken-world-they-are-heroes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.cubasupport.ie\/latest\/trumps-re-designation-of-cuba-as-a-terrorist-state-is-a-farce-for-the-rest-of-the-covid-stricken-world-they-are-heroes\/","title":{"rendered":"Trump\u2019s re-designation of Cuba as a terrorist state is a farce. For the rest of the Covid-stricken world, they are heroes"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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FILE PHOTO: An emergency contingent of Cuban doctors and nurses arrive at Italy’s Malpensa airport after travelling from Cuba to help Italy battle the spread of coronavirus disease (COVID-19), near Milan, Italy, March 22, 2020\u00a0\u00a9\u00a0\u00a0REUTERS\/Daniele Mascolo<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

In one of its last salvoes, the outgoing Trump administration has put Cuba back on the list of \u2018state sponsors of terrorism\u2019 \u2013 even as the Caribbean nation offers the entire world its help against the coronavirus pandemic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the last month, the Trump administration has been feverishly passing measures that are telling when it comes to its actual priorities and who it responds to. Perhaps nowhere is this clearer than in the announcement<\/a> from Mike Pompeo that Cuba would once again be designated as a state sponsor of terrorism.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The outgoing secretary of state cites Cuba\u2019s refusal to extradite Colombian guerrillas and US activists like former Black Liberation Army member, Assata Shakur, as well as its support for Venezuela\u2019s actual government, as grounds for the move. The designation will mean further restrictions on US exports and sales, as well penalties for \u201cpersons and countries engaging in certain trade with Cuba.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

While Pompeo may have erred in misspelling Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro\u2019s name, his characterization of Cuba\u2019s government as the\u00a0\u201cCastro regime\u201d<\/em>\u00a0is no accident, but rather a nod to the base of far-right Cubans and Venezuelans concentrated in Miami. This designation was for them, likely at their behest.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This may prove to be the last aggression by Trump against the Caribbean island, but it is hardly the first. From his very first days in office, Trump strove<\/a> to undo the detente with Cuba fostered by the Obama government, in favor of restoring Cold War-era policies aimed at strangling the island into submission. Beginning in 2017, the White House began to once again restrict flights and visits, sanctioning<\/a> Cuban officials and institutions, as well as fining<\/a> companies for doing business with Havana.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Even businesses outside the US saw themselves impacted<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

All of this of course is the precise objective of the US blockade, which has cost the island at least $130 billion<\/a> since it was first implemented in the 1960s. Trump\u2019s measures deprived Cuba of $5 billion<\/a> during the last year alone, and it couldn\u2019t have come at a worse time given the struggles faced by all countries in the region due to the pandemic. Cruelly, US efforts also made it hard for Cuba to acquire<\/a> personal protective equipment and medical devices, while Cubans outside the country faced considerable challenges in sending remittances back home.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As it has been during the previous decades where the economic war was complimented with invasions, assassinations and terrorist attacks, Cuba has been able to withstand the latest onslaught. Astoundingly, it has also been able to muster a Herculean effort to support curbing the spread of Covid-19 worldwide. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The tiny island has sent thousands of\u00a0doctors<\/a>\u00a0and health workers to dozens of\u00a0countries<\/a>\u00a0including Honduras, Dominica, Angola, Togo, Guinea-Bissau and South Africa. Cuban \u2018white coats\u2019 were also called in to support oil-rich nations like Oman, Kuwait, United Arab Emirates, and Qatar, as well as to European countries like Italy and Andorra.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Cuban doctors arriving into Italy to support the fight against Covid-19. Throughout most pandemics of the 21st century Cuban doctors have been at the forefront of the medical response, no matter what the country. pic.twitter.com\/DxiVLWMeIT<\/a><\/p>— Frances Leach (@francesleach_) March 22, 2020<\/a><\/blockquote>