Deciphering Donald Trump’s thinking on Latin America
The United States has many policies, and none
IT IS a mystery that has baffled American and Cuban officials for months. Who and what was behind what the State Department calls the “attacks of an unknown nature” that inflicted hearing loss and headaches on 18 staff and four spouses from the United States’ embassy in Havana? With no sign of an answer, on September 29th the State Department announced that it was withdrawing all but emergency personnel from Havana. Noting that some of the “attacks” took place in hotels, it also advised Americans not to visit Cuba. This week it expelled 15 Cuban diplomats from Washington.
Despite this, the administration of Donald Trump does not contradict Cuba’s claim that it had nothing to do with the incidents. Cuba has allowed the FBI to investigate. Even so, the strange episode is helping to reverse the opening to Cuba that was a central element in the Latin American policy of Barack Obama, Mr Trump’s predecessor.
This article appeared in the The Americas section of the print edition under the headline "Deciphering Trump"
From the October 7th 2017 edition
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