After attending a meeting of the ministers of foreign affairs of NATO member states in early December, United States Deputy Secretary of State Christopher Landau lamented in a social media post that the U.S. had long "failed to address the glaring inconsistency between its relations with NATO and the EU".
According to Landau, countries that form part of both organizations laud trans-Atlantic cooperation within the context of NATO but support agendas "adverse to U.S. interests and security" such as "censorship," "climate fanaticism," "open borders" and "support for Communist Cuba" in EU settings.
However, the EU's alleged backing of Communist Cuba had not, prior to Landau's declaration, featured prominently in the current American government's criticism of the European nations. So why the mention?
The EU gave Cuba over 94 million euros in humanitarian aid between 1993 and 2020, according to international human rights organization Civil Rights Defenders. According to the European Union's own website, it has also "earmarked" a further €125 million for cooperation with Cuba for the 2021-2027 period.
The EU hopes the funds will help achieve "ecological transition, including renewable energies and modernizing the economy, including support to the emerging private sector and the biotechnological sector."
These European disbursements represent a policy stance towards Cuba that differs significantly from the American approach. Washington has long maintained an economic embargo on the island and officially considers Cuba to be a state sponsor of terrorism.
In addition to its economic cooperation, the EU also differs from the U.S. in having signed political agreements with Cuba. In December 2016 an EU-Cuba "political dialogue and cooperation agreement" stipulated that the two signatories would encourage mutual dialogue, cooperation, and greater promotion of human rights and democracy.
Alian Collazo, Executive Director of Florida-based Cuban opposition group Cuban Freedom March (CFM), echoed Landau's warnings to the EU on Cuba.
In conversation with Latin Times, Collazo warned that, by sending money to Cuba, the EU is not just threatening American interests, but its own.
Collazo stressed the importance of cooperation between democratic nations, questioning the EU member states' support for "this pariah state", whose "system is totally, absolutely contrary to America."
Collazo went on to argue that EU support to Cuba was equivalent to support for other American adversaries such as Iran or North Korea and rejected the notion that the funds from are humanitarian in nature.
The EU is sending "hundreds of millions of dollars to the Cuban dictatorship under the auspices of helping Cuban entrepreneurs and helping the Cuban people" when, in reality, "none of that money ... goes to the Cuban people ... it goes to the Cuban dictatorship," he claimed.
What's more, Collazo accused the EU of pursuing a self-destructive policy by sending "millions of dollars to a dictatorship that not only oppresses the Cuban people but is helping ... the destabilization of European security" in Ukraine. He claimed that Cuba is an active Russian ally in the war in Ukraine, which he describes as "the largest security threat that ... has existed on the [European] continent since World War Two."
Collazo's accusation echoes that of the American government, which has accused the Cuban regime of being complicit in sending large numbers of Cuban mercenaries to fight for the Russian army in Ukraine. Havana has consistently rejected those accusations, arguing that they are actively clamping down on the arrival of Cuban mercenaries to the theater of operations.
Cuban support for Russia was cited as the driving factor in an American diplomatic campaign to encourage UN members to reject or abstain from a UN General Assembly resolution condemning the U.S. economic embargo against Cuba.
Anna Ayuso, a senior investigator for the Barcelona Centre for International Affairs (CIDOB) who has written about EU-Cuba relations, also spoke to Latin Times about the transparency of EU aid for Cuba and the wider geopolitical context of the EU-Cuba relationship.
Although Ayuso, like Collazo, recognized that those "who receive [EU] grants" in Cuba "are people who are connected to the government because there is no alternative," she rejected the idea that EU aid to the island nation simply disappears and is used for nefarious purposes by the regime.
Instead, the EU invests in "projects that very directly ... [address] the basic necessities of the population." Specifically, the investigator stressed, the EU invests in the Cuban energy and agricultural sectors. That investment must produce results for the funds to continue, which would prevent Cuban government functionaries from using the funds for personal benefit.
However, Ayuso also pointed out that the existence of EU funds to Cuba frees up "other resources" that the Cuban government may well use "for its own benefit."
Ayuso also questioned the authenticity of American concern for the safety of Europe's eastern flank in the context of Cuba's alleged support for Russia.
"I would say that, right now, the U.S. is nearly more pro-Russian than Cuba, which has not stopped being pro-Russia but has very little influence" compared to the United States.
The geopolitical repercussions of Trump's generally more favorable view of Russian President Vladimir Putin than previous U.S. presidents is being felt in Europe. As Ayuso put it, "the U.S. supports a [European] opposition ... that is indulgent of Putin's view of the situation."
The current American administration has indeed formally accused EU states of trampling "on basic principles of democracy to suppress opposition" and has expressed its support for "patriotic European parties" who offer "resistance to Europe's current trajectory."
These parties, which include the British Reform UK, the French National Rally, the German Alternative für Deutschland and the Hungarian Fidesz party, have all held positions more consistently pro-Putin than their center-left and center-right counterparts.
Therefore, Ayuso speculated that American aversion to EU financial support for Cuba has less to do with the Caribbean nation's involvement in the Russo-Ukraine war, but rather is a consequence of an American desire to secure its hemispheric dominance from external influence.
"The United States and Putin hold similar positions [regarding the idea of] ... spheres of influence," Ayuso said. The investigator explained that both the United States and Russia believe that their great power status entitles them to a sphere of influence in their surrounding countries that should be free of the influence of third parties.
Following this logic, the current U.S. administration would have reason to take issue with the EU - the third party in this case - holding a different stance on Cuba, which is 90 miles off the coast of Florida and therefore considered to be well within the American sphere of influence.
Indeed, the recent capture of Venezuelan President and longtime American adversary Nicolás Maduro by U.S. special forces and the open Trump revival of the Monroe doctrine - a 19th-century-era U.S. foreign policy that sought to cement U.S. hegemony over the Americas - would indicate that potential Cuban involvement in Ukraine is not solely to blame for American disapproval of the current EU-Cuba relationship.
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