WASHINGTON—James Carafano, vice president of Heritage’s Davis Institute for National Security and Foreign Policy and E.W. Richardson fellow, and Mike Gonzalez, Angeles T. Arredondo E Pluribus Unum senior fellow, reacted Thursday to the Biden administration’s announcement for sanctions on one Cuban individual and one Cuban entity:

The Biden administration says it supports the Cuban people, but the proof—or more accurately, the lack thereof—is in the policy. While the Biden administration’s announcement today is a welcome first step, slapping limited, narrow sanctions on a mere handful of communist thugs and enforcers lets the Cuban regime off easy. Make no mistake, the Biden administration is content to pander to its Marxist left flank at the expense of an oppressed people fighting for liberty.  

 

Cubans, Cuban-Americans, and freedom-loving people will see this empty stunt for what it is: an attempt to score political points while in actuality appeasing the Butchers of Havana. 

 

The Biden administration’s response takes another page out of President Obama’s failed foreign policy book. Biden’s ‘Remittances Working Group’ will likely ease up on a policy that has worked and end up throwing a lifeline to the communist regime suppressing the Cuban people.  

 

Today’s announcement leaves much more to be done and serves as a warning that the Biden administration could take steps to warm relations with the communist regime and once again betray the Cuban people desperately seeking liberty from the regime.