A conservative case for normalization with Cuba
The U.S. State Department’s list of State Sponsors of Terrorism includes four nations: Iran, Syria, North Korea and Cuba. Among them, two are identified as significant promoters of unrest and terror in the Middle East, impacting both their own citizens and others in the region. Notably, North Korea attracted international attention for the mysterious arrest of an American college student in 2016, followed by an 2017 incident in the Kuala Lumpur airport where state agents utilized a WMD-grade nerve agent to eliminate a political rival who happened to be the half-brother of Kim Jong Un.
But the inclusion of Cuba on this list prompts a critical inquiry into its justification and is emblematic of outdated foreign policy thinking among the D.C. establishment.
Nine days before President Trump left office, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo put Cuba back on the State Sponsors of Terrorism list. Despite numerous intelligence officials scoffing at the inclusion of Cuba, President Biden has kept Havana on it.
This has had disastrous results for the Cuban people. For one thing, it puts Cuba on a list alongside international pariahs, such as Bashar al-Assad’s Syrian regime, and grafts a stigma of the country as inherently dangerous and belligerent. Tourists typically do not flock to state sponsors of terrorism.
As a result of the state sponsor of terrorism designation, European tourists who visit Cuba now no longer qualify for a 90-day visa waiver into the United States. This negatively impacts Cuban private businesses that cater to tourists as well as reinforcing the image of the U.S as world policeman. Hotels in Havana are now more than half empty.
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https://thehill.com/opinion/4444511-a-conservative-case-for-normalization-with-cuba/
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