History Repeats in Cuba

Trump’s remarks about Cuba include compliments and statements implying control or conquest. After Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro was removed by U.S. commandos, administration officials reportedly turned attention to Cuba. The administration’s interest is linked to Cuba’s nickel and cobalt deposits and the effort to compete with China for critical minerals. Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s motivation is also described as personal, shaped by his family’s departure from Cuba before Fidel Castro’s rise and his long-held desire for regime change. Cuban historians warn that U.S. regime-change efforts follow a long pattern of American dreams to acquire Cuba, and that current sanctions, oil shortages, and food price increases could make rhetoric escalate toward violence.

"“They have a nice landscape. You know it's a beautiful island,” he said during a signing event at the Oval Office in March. “I do believe I'll be having the honor of taking Cuba. That'd be good. That's a big honor.” Sometimes he toys with the idea of conquest a little more menacingly, such as when he said at the same event: “Whether I free it, take it-I think I could do anything I want with it.”"

"Almost as soon as U.S. commandos swiftly extracted Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and flew him to the United States, some administration officials set their sights on the next target: Cuba. Trump, per usual, is focused on business. His administration seems to have turned its attention to Cuba's nickel and cobalt deposits, in an effort to get ahead in the race with China for critical mineral deposits."

"In the case of Secretary of State Marco Rubio, the motivation for the U.S. to focus on Cuba seems more personal. Rubio's parents left Cuba shortly before Fidel Castro took power, and he has long harbored the dream shared by many Cuban exiles of regime change on the island. In a recent address from the State Department delivered in Spanish and intended for Cubans, Rubio promised them a “ neuva vía ”-a new path."

"From the Cuban perspective, the prospect of the U.S. bringing regime change is fraught, coming after centuries of conflict and colonial extraction. As the Cuba historian and Princeton professor Ada Ferrer describes it, American presidents dating back to Thomas Jefferson have dreamed of acquiring Cuba in one way or another. Now, as Cubans are suffering from sanctions and oil shortages and soaring food prices, she worries that the bellicose rhetoric from the White House could put U.S.-Cuba relations on an openly violent path."

Read at The Atlantic