You understand that Trump was also president before Biden, right? And yes, those policies were continued, they were not changed. Choosing not to reverse the 1st Trump admins policies was a deliberate decision. The goal was to further destabilize Cuba, not normalize relations and end our illegal blockade. You can praise Biden all you want. I’m not going to praise our unjustifiable and illegal collective punishment on the Cuban people. This ratchet effect is exactly the problem, normalizing the previous Republican policies, and paving the way for the next Republican admin to expand on the brutality.

May 2021: The Biden-Harris administration sustained Trump-era Cuba policy by maintaining Cuba on the list of countries certified as not cooperating fully with U.S. antiterrorism efforts.

On June 23, the U.S. voted against a resolution condemning the U.S. embargo on Cuba at the 75th session of the United Nations (UN) General Assembly, signaling their support for the embargo. Each year since 1992, the UN has voted on a resolution to condemn the U.S. embargo on Cuba and, at all but one meeting, the U.S. has voted against the resolution. In 2016, the Obama-Biden administration historically abstained from voting on the resolution for the first time. Following the abstention, the Trump administration reverted back to voting in support of the U.S. embargo on Cuba.

July 2021: The State Department released the 2021 Trafficking In Persons Report and designated Cuba as one of the 15 countries with a Tier 3 ranking. Countries with Tier 3 rankings are subject to financial penalties, may be subject to restrictions of foreign assistance, and may also face possible U.S. opposition to similar assistance from the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank. The report also listed Cuba’s government as one of 11 governments committing state-sponsored human trafficking. In the report’s launch ceremony, Secretary Blinken specifically noted Cuba’s international medical missions.

On July 22, the Biden-Harris administration announced sanctions “targeting elements of the Cuban regime responsible for this crackdown… to hold them accountable for their actions.” Specifically, the U.S. Department of Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) instated sanctions on Cuba’s Minister of the Revolutionary Armed Forces (MINFAR), Álvaro López Miera, and the Ministry of the Interior’s (MINIT) Special National Brigade, or “Boinas Negras” (Black Berets).

On July 30, OFAC announced additional sanctions on Cuba’s Revolutionary National Police, as well as individual sanctions against the chief, Oscar Callejas Valcarce, and deputy chief, Eddy Sierra Arias, of the National Police.

On August 13, the U.S. State Department announced a third round of sanctions issued by OFAC in response to the J11 protests.

On August 19, OFAC announced a fourth round of sanctions since the July 11 protests on three top Cuban officials.