The support of Cuban Americans by Trump pushes Havana into the arms of Moscow

Russia and Cuba are getting closer diplomatically as the relationship between Havana and the United States becomes more and more problematic. Washington is unhappy with the situation, but can be held responsible.

This week's visit to Havana by Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov gave a moral boost to Cuba, once again hit by US sanctions under the Trump administration after the relatively relaxed conditions imposed by the Obama presidency.

Havana-Moscow relations peaked in 2014, when Russia canceled the $ 32 billion debt that Cuba had accumulated during the Soviet era.

"This has facilitated the conclusion of the current agreements," said Stephen Wilkinson, president of the International Institute for the Study of Cuba.

According to the Russian news agency Tbad, Lavrov said that "Russia will continue to develop its military, technical and economic cooperation with Cuba".

According to Wilkinson, "return on investment" agreements were signed during the visit, "forcing Cubans to buy equipment as part of a project where the Russians are developing the Cuban rail system", in exchange for the deleveraging of Moscow.

Cold War
In an episode reminiscent of the Cold War, a flotilla including Admiral Gorshkov, Russia's most modern warship, and his escort arrived in Havana harbor for a two-day courtesy call, triggering the Alarm in Washington.

Russia's growing involvement in Cuba could upset the United States, but Washington must take it on its own, according to Wilkinson. "They are putting more pressure on Cuba, so Havana will inevitably turn to those who help: Russia and China."

Those who apply American policy in Cuba are not ordinary diplomats.

"Foreign policy officials would have preferred to do exactly what Obama did," says Wilkinson, "to completely remove the embargo.

"Even Henry Kissinger, a long time ago, was a supporter of the lifting of the Cuban embargo."

Cuban American cliques
"The embargo against Cuba does not make sense as a policy."

According to Wilkinson, Washington's stubborn blockade of Washington is "driven by cliques of Cuban Americans," the offspring of the first migrants to leave Cuba in 1959-1961.

"It was the the upper middle clbad who had a special interest in the property: the landowners who owned mines, hotels and real estate, which were then nationalized by the Cuban revolutionary government.

"And they have never stopped campaigning to recover this property," he says.

The reason why Trump supports right-wing Cuban-Americans is simple: it's politics. Business people in Washington have been asked to lift the embargo, but their voice is too weak to dominate the US-Cuban lobby backed by Florida Senator Marco Rubio and ultimately by National Security Advisor John Bolton.

"The Trump administration is not listening to diplomats or corporate lobbying. So, his calculation is that he has a better chance of winning Florida – a crucial state for the US presidential elections – by adopting a hard line against Cuba, "Wilkinson says.