Trump envoy warns of ‘short-term pain' as administration cracks down on Cuba, Venezuela
Speaking at an event at Miami-Dade College, Mauricio Claver-Carone, special envoy for Latin America, defended President Donald Trump's immigration crackdown, in particular its emphasis on deporting Tren de Aragua gang members, as part of a larger strategy to put pressure on Venezuela's strongman Nicolás Maduro.
Claver-Carone suggested the Maduro regime is following the playbook used by Fidel Castro when he freed criminals from Cuban prisons and sent them as part of the about 125,000 Cubans who came to Florida during the Mariel boatlift in 1980. Unlike other presidents, who were not 'resolute enough' to send the criminals back, he said, 'President Trump is, so we're calling bullshit.'
'We understand there are challenges, and it's painful. There's short-term pain,' he added, speaking of emotions running high because of generalizations from administration officials depicting Venezuelans as criminals. 'But the other thing all of these regimes and dictators have also learned, starting with Cuba, is that the easiest thing to do is export your problem,' he said. 'So the way you have totalitarian control is, you don't like it, you leave. And that's what happened in Venezuela. That's what's happening in Nicaragua.'
'I can tell you this as a member of the Cuban American community, and it's been now 60 years. If you don't want to be 60 years in exile, then cut it off now, do the short-term sacrifices now, because if not, they're not going anywhere,' he said.
Claver-Carone declined to comment on plans for a potential travel ban that would bar Cubans and Venezuelans from traveling to the United States, adding that the plans are still under discussion.
The special envoy also said the administration is planning to ramp up pressure on the Cuban military as part of a more 'surgical approach' to sanctions and spoke of using more effective tools than those already written into the decades-old U.S. embargo.
'The Cuban government needs to understand that our tools and President Trump's will in this regard are different from what they have seen in the past,' he said, underscoring that leaders at the State Department, the Treasury Department and the Pentagon are aligned with Trump on Latin American foreign policy.
The comment came after Miami Republican U.S. Rep. Carlos Gimenez sent a letter Thursday to the Treasury Secretary asking him to halt 'all travel to and from communist Cuba and eliminating remittances to the island.'
When asked about the letter at the event organized by the World Affairs Council of Miami, Claver-Carone said he had not seen it.
'It's something that's always been talked about, and it's about the old tools,' he said. ' I think we can be more creative, but obviously, I understand. And it comes from a good place,' he said in reference to Giménez, the only Cuban American in Congress born on the island.
However, throughout his remarks, Claver-Carone made clear that the administration is pursuing the 'maximum pressure' approach advocated by Giménez in dealing with Cuba and Venezuela.
Speaking of lessons learn during the first Trump administration, in which he was involved in crafting U.S. policy toward Cuba and Venezuela at the National Security Council, Claver-Carone said officials in the second Trump administration will try to avoid 'plaguing whatever policies we do with loopholes.
'There's still going to be disagreements. There's always commercial interests,' he added. 'But it's either short-term pain for long-term gain, or you'll have long-term pain and no gain. In the short term, there are things that may seem upsetting or disruptive. But honestly, if you don't do it, it doesn't work. So we have to be all in, go big, or go home.'
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