Cuba braces for more Trump punishment

The visit to Havana this week by Britain'sPrince Charles must have felt like a little bit of respite to the authorities in Cuba after the buffeting they have been receiving from the United States.

Since his election as American president, Donald Trump has rolled back many of the initiatives to improve relations with Cuba that were put in place by his predecessor Barack Obama.

And earlier this month, in a significant move that's designed to further put the screws on Havana, his administration announced that it wouldallow lawsuits in American courts against Cuban companies using property seized during the 1959 Cuban revolution.

For now, however, foreign firms doing business on the island have been protected, butthere is little doubt that the goal of invoking previously suspended provisions of the 1996 Helms-Burton Act is to dissuade new foreign investment that's so vital to the Cuban economy.

But yet, here was Prince Charles and his wife on the first official visit by Britishroyals to Cuba, sent by the UK government with a clear eye on trade and investment opportunities post-Brexit.

Cuba has been under a U.S.-trade embargo for decades. /VCG Photo

Though largely symbolic, the trip signaled a departure from the previous Cuban policy of Washington's closest ally but is in step with clear moves by the European Union to develop better ties with Havana. Less than a year ago, the EU and Cuba moved to put their relations on a more structured setting, abandoning the more restrictive format in which they had operated during the Castro years.

Cuba's survival skills

The visit nevertheless took place at a time when Cuba has been caught in the crosshairs of the Venezuelacrisis, with Washington claiming the island is propping up the under-pressure NicolasMaduro government in Caracas.

The rhetoric against both nations coming fromTrump and hisSecretary of State Mike Pompeo has been so savage that British Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt tried to steer a diplomatic path in a phone call with his Cuban counterpartBruno Eduardo Rodríguez Parrilla on Monday.

Hunt said that he hoped the royal visit would boost cooperation while calling on Cuba to play “a more constructive role in resolving the Venezuelan crisis.”

The failure to oust Maduro is certain to make Trump even more crotchety about Cuba, which would undoubtedly welcome the current government of its own closest ally remaining in office. Havana is certainly able to offer plenty of advice to Caracas on survival skills, even as the U.S. piles new sanctions onto the decades-old trade embargo against the island.

The application of the Helms-Burton law was also designed to inflict more punishment on Cuba over Venezuela and Cuba should brace itself for more should the situation in Venezuela continue.

The appointment of a foreign policy hawk like John Bolton as Donald Trump's National Security Adviser has made life more difficult for Cuba. /Xinhua Photo

Every U.S. president has suspended on a rotating six-month basis a section of the law that would allow lawsuits by Cuban-Americans and other U.S. citizens due to opposition from the international community and fears it could create chaos in the U.S. court system with a flood of legal claims.

Having issued a 30-day "partial waiver" of the section, the Trump administration also conveyed a message that it could impose further sanctions by saying officials will continue reviewing the situation during the waiver period to see whether the current measures have sufficiently deterred people from "trafficking confiscated property."The administration is also said to be considering labeling Cuba a state sponsor of terrorism once again.

America's 'illegal law''

It doesn't help that the state of Florida, where many Cuban-Americans live, will be key to Trump's re-election prospects in 2020, so any diminution of the rhetoric, or sanctions, before then is unlikely.

In the meantime, Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel bristles at the extra-territorial reach of the American legislation. "The Helms-Burton is absurd, an illegal law. You cannot legislate against the world, or deny the sovereignty of each country," he tweeted.

His government has sought to reassure foreign investors that their projects would be protected and has warned companies looking to take advantage of the U.S. move that they would be excluded from potential investment opportunities.

The Cubans are sufficiently concerned about American belligerence that for a week earlier in March, state television "showed footage of Soviet-era tanks rolling out from mountain caves, soldiers manning anti-aircraft missile batteries, spandex-clad women shooting rifles and factory workers taking up positions around their plants," according to Reuters.

Still, things aren't all negative. Google is reported to be about to sign a memorandum of understanding with the Cuban government on exploring cooperation in expanding internet access across the island via an Obama-era provision left untouched by Trump.

But overall the prospects when it comes to U.S.-Cuba relations look very grim, and the public relations reliefoffered by a visit by the heir to the British throne will not change that.