4/16/2019

CUBA/FOREIGN POLICY/TRADE WAR/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “The Trump administration is expected to announce its plan to enforce a controversial provision of the decades-old trade embargo on Cuba Wednesday [4-17-19], a senior administration official tells CNN — a decision that will break with the precedent set by every President since Bill Clinton. US National Security Adviser John Bolton is set to outline President Donald Trump’s plan to fully implement Title III of the Helms-Burton Act, a previously suspended section of the US trade embargo on the Communist-run country during a speech in Miami, the official said. It is a move that is widely considered to be part of the administration’s efforts to ramp up pressure on Havana over its support for Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro — who Trump criticized as a ‘Cuban puppet’ in February. Cuban officials have decried the increased sanctions on the communist-run island and offered to enter into negotiations to repay US companies for seized property. During a speech in Miami last year, Bolton promised the crowd a tough US approach to the ‘troika of tyranny,’ his term for Cuba, Venezuela and Nicaragua, saying they represented ‘the perils of poisonous ideologies left unchecked.’”

Zachary Cohen and Jennifer Hansler, “Trump expected to become first President to target Cuba with this controversial policy,” CNN Politics, CNN.com, April 16, 2019 8:52 pm