Three New Appointees To Biden Administration Foreign Policy Team Does Not Return To Obama Administration Cuba Policies

The incoming Biden Administration is expected to confirm that Mr. Antony John Blinken will be nominated to be United States Secretary of State, Ms. Linda Thomas-Greenfield will be nominated to be Permanent Representative of the United States to the United Nations, and Mr. Jacob Jeremiah Sullivan will be appointed as Assistant to the President for National Security Affairs. 

The inclusion of these three individuals to the incoming Biden Administration bodes well for a return to an inter-agency focus upon traditional decision-making processes throughout the United States government.  There will also be a focus upon conditionality with respect to commercial, economic, and political relationships between the United States and other countries. 

Significant is none of the three were or are elected office holders nor do they anticipate becoming elected office holders.  As such, their focus will not be upon positioning themselves for future office- a focus which has impacted previous individuals serving in the positions. 

For the Republic of Cuba, the inclusion of these three individuals should neither suggest an aggressive nor immediate return to the pre-20 January 2017 Obama Administration policies. Caution will be the strategy.

The Miami Herald
Miami, Florida
23 November 2020

Excerpts:

Rubio’s office wouldn’t answer questions Monday about the senator’s position on Blinken’s nomination. But Rubio, who is Cuban American, was plenty critical of Blinken’s answers in 2014 when Rubio pressed him during a confirmation hearing on whether Obama would “unilaterally” move to lift sanctions on Cuba.

“Anything that might be done in Cuba would have to be consistent with the law,” Blinken, at the time Obama’s deputy national security adviser, said while appearing before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. “And second, anything that in the future that might be done in Cuba would be done in real consultation” with the committee.

A few weeks later, Blinken was confirmed by the Senate as deputy secretary of state. And the very next day, Obama announced that he’d ordered the State Department to establish an embassy in Havana for the first time in more than a half-century. He also moved to ease restrictions on travel, remittances and commerce on the island.

When Blinken appeared before the foreign relations committee again in 2015, Rubio reminded him of his commitment, reading aloud Blinken’s previous statement on Cuba.

“I did not live up to the standard I set during that hearing and in the remarks that you just quoted. I think that I could have done a better job in engaging with you and consulting with you in advance,” Blinken told Rubio. “And I regret that.”