Page 16 - Social Science.docx

Principles of social science
Donald Trump. As soon as he took office in 2017, President Donald Trump reinstated travel and business restrictions stating that “U.S. sanctions will not be lifted until Cuba frees all of its political prisoners, respects freedoms of assembly and expression, legalizes opposition parties, and schedules free and fair elections.” The policy does, although, maintain allowance for hotel ventures, direct flights, and cruises to Cuba.24
Relations further deteriorated when the U.S. pulled its embassy from Havana in September of that same year as well as expelled fifteen Cuban diplomats due to a mysterious illness in the U.S. embassy. Although Fidel’s successor, brother Raul Casto, delivered the presidency to hand- picked Miguel Diaz-Canel–creating the first time in 60 years that a Castro did not head Cuba’s government–Trump escalated the contentious U.S.-Cuban relationship through his advisor John Bolton. Condemning Cuba along with Venezuela and Nicaragua as the “Troika of Tyranny” for embracing communism, the Trump administration penalized Cuba even further by sanctioning Venezuelan oil shipments, as well as increasing U.S.-Cuban sanctions and restricting travel including “prohibiting group educational trips, banning cruises, and curtailing direct flights.”25 Despite his less-than-ideal immigration record and lackluster COVID-19 response, President Trump enjoyed a record Cuban-American voter turnout in the 2020 presidential elections but this time it wasn’t enough to sway the outcome of the election.26 This large contingent will continue to
24 “Remarks by President Trump on the Policy of the United States Towards Cuba,” The White House. The United States Government.
25 “Timeline: U.S.-Cuba Relations,” Council on Foreign Relations, 2020.
26 David Smiley Viglucci, Andres Lautaro Grinspan, and Antonio Maria Delgado, “'People Believe It.' Republicans' Drumbeat of Socialism Helped Win Voters in Miami.” Miami Herald.
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