Obsessed with undoing everything Obama (both Barack and Michelle) did.
Apparently a majority of Cubans in South Florida supported Obama's reforms, though evidently not the ones who've bought Marco Rubio.
As with threats to tear up the Iran deal, this will bolster reactionary interests, and could well force shut the unusual window of opportunity for reform. It will seriously harm the United States' fledgling reputation throughout Cuba (and elsewhere) as a reliable, trustworthy, and honest broker, which was at least half the battle. It took an enormous amount of time and effort from American and Canadian diplomats to coax Cuba toward meaningful negotiation, and, once spurned, the chance might not soon come again.
But most importantly, it's just not going to work. Trump's list of demands? No country has ever surrendered its sovereignty like that without an existential fight. Beyond the leadership, the Cuban population is nothing if not proud, and despite widespread desire for change, it will no doubt interpret this in part through the lens of national sovereignty. After all, if nothing else, the Castros' stopped clock always told the correct time whenever rhetoric returned to American malevolence and hostility.
Political and economic reform is invariably a long and uneven process. It takes time for critical local institutions and norms to develop. And they have to develop organically, and internally. They have never been successfully imposed from outside (see Iraq, Afghanistan, et al). The last thing Cubans (regardless of affiliation) want is for the island to go the way of the Dominican Republic, a sort of trophy for garish American fast-food tourist triumphalism. They do not want the Olive Garden occupying historic Havana. It would be utterly humiliating. And Obama's breakthrough came from persuading Raul that he understood this, and that he would see to it Cuba would be free to reform in its own way. He cited the example of Vietnam, whose economic reforms have been perhaps the most successful anywhere in the past 50 years, and which Cuban delegations have been studying for decades. Vietnam's model is based not on opening the doors for foreign corporations to run wild, but on gradually fostering and empowering local entrepreneurs. This encourages a more equitable distribution of gains, but it also provides the basis for an emerging middle-class entrepreneurial political consciousness, which is just as critical. This sort of independence will always be more challenging to achieve in Cuba, given its proximity - "so far from god, and so close to the United States," another neighbour once bemoaned - but there has been real progress.
Rubio, on the other hand, warns that economic reforms were only benefiting the military, which is just demonstrably untrue. Rather than allowing international hotel chains to mushroom, Cuban tourism is focused on home-stays, via airbnb, with the proceeds going directly to Havana families, who in turn distribute the wealth throughout their neighbourhoods, or back to the countryside. He is depriving the very people for whom his heart apparently bleeds of their best opportunity in over 50 years. The initiative he's just shredded was likely the best if not the
only way to counter the concentration of economic power within the military, which can always find another dance partner. Just as Obama's hand was forced on Iran after Europe made clear that it was no longer willing to play the sanctions game, the same could happen here, with Europe, or China, moving to fill the void. The United States is no longer the only game in town, and it can no longer close entire countries off simply by fiat, least of all with Trump at the helm.
This was in no way a decision undertaken with Cuba itself in mind. It is entirely parochial and inward-looking, intended to scratch fading domestic political itches regardless of the long-term cost.
This is an extremely counterproductive move made by people who don't even care enough to understand why.
And if you actually think this is the best way of improving human rights, start here first:
