The U.S. government has made it clear to Cuban authorities that the imprisonment of hundreds of peaceful protesters who took part in island-wide demonstrations on July 2021 is the “most serious obstacle” to improving bilateral relations, the head of the U.S. Embassy in Havana told the Miami Herald in an interview Tuesday.
‘We’ve certainly communicated to the Cuban government that this the most serious obstacle to any improvement in relations,” chargé d’affaires Benjamin Ziff said during a visit to Miami. “We made it clear that the human rights context on the island is a huge obstacle, the hugest obstacle to being able to have any kind of movement in the relationship with the United States.”
Ziff also said the Biden administration has increased staffing at the embassy to process immigrant visas, but there is no date yet to resume issuing visitors visas. He also said he was not aware of plans to reopen the refugee program, which was shut down under the Trump administration.
The diplomat said the embassy currently has around 35 staffers, down from about 50 in 2017, when most diplomats were evacuated following unexplained health incidents that came to be known as “Havana syndrome.” The embassy is currently working with five consular officers, and there are plans to increase the number in coming months. But the damage suffered over the years by the 70-year-old building, which is across the street from the seaside promenade known as the Malecon, in Havana, and the lack of maintenance have affected the ability to staff up, he said.
He also said it was now safe for the diplomats to work in Havana. “We would not re-staff the embassy if it were not safe,” he said.
Ziff, who has had a long and distinguished career at the State Department, shared his views on the country, the dissident movement, Americans detained in Cuba and the private sector in an interview that has been edited for clarity and conciseness.
Q: I want to ask you first about your impression of the country. The situation seems pretty bad.
A: It’s tragic. The economic crisis is visible, and not getting any better. The political crisis, the repression continues. You saw 320,000 people left the island just last year, and happy people don’t emigrate irregularly. So the situation is very fraught.
The U.S. government’s role there is twofold. Number one, our job is to try to improve the human rights conditions and also improve the conditions for the Cuban people on the island. You saw the measures announced by the administration in May involving the flights, the remittances, and the goal here is to have some meaningful changes that allow the Cuban people to have a future free from repression and free from economic misery.
The embassy there is really busy advocating for dissidents, for human rights defenders, in private and public, talking with our colleagues and our friends on the island and off the island to have a unified front when we go demand the release of the 700 prisoners who were imprisoned after July 11, and the 1,000 political prisoners on the island. It’s inconceivable to have children getting 10- and 20-year sentences for peaceful protests. And we have video evidence, we have testimony, we know that there were peaceful protests. And so we continue to insist to the Cuban government that they need to release these people.
Q: Several people have conveyed that message to the Cuban government. What’s their response?
A: Well, we’ve certainly communicated to the Cuban government that that is the most serious obstacle to any improvement in the bilateral relationship. I think you’d have to ask the Cubans as to why their response has not been evident in any respect. It’s unquestionably clear to them what our position is.
Q: Right now many activists and dissidents are here in the United States, in prison in Cuba, or under heavy surveillance and repression. The dissident movement looks very fragmented. What’s your impression? Do you have any access to people in prison?
A: We have constant communication with the dissident community on the island. The Cuban regime is very effective at imprisoning people, driving them off the island, scaring them and affecting their ability to express themselves freely and organize freely.
That’s not in doubt. It’s very obvious to everyone. You saw when Deputy Assistant Secretary Emily Mendrala was in Havana in November she tried to meet with the relatives of the (July 11) prisoners and the Cuban government detained the family members so they could not meet with her.
I admire these people tremendously. They’re brave, they’re strong — whether they’re on the island or off the island. These are a brave group of people confronting incredibly difficult conditions. But there they face an autocratic regime that is very good at suppressing them.
We advocate for them in private and public. We raise their cases across the board with the Cuban government at every meeting. We amplify their voices. We make it clear that the treatment, whether it’s forced exile, whether it’s preventing people from returning to the island, all of these are unacceptable. And (we) make it clear that the human rights context on the island is a huge obstacle, the hugest obstacle to being able to have any kind of movement in the relationship with the United States.
Q: Do you have support from the diplomatic community in Havana?
A: Yes, I meet with the diplomatic community frequently; it is a central topic of our conversation. We coordinate our discussions and our approaches. And I don’t see a lot of daylight between the U.S. position on human rights in Cuba and anybody else’s, obviously, our allies and partners.
Q: Are there any plans to start issuing visitor visas for Cubans in Havana and reopening the refugee program?
A: Because of the five years that we weren’t doing any operation, we have a huge backlog of immigrant visas. And that is our priority. Our priority is family reunification. When we ramp up with more consular officers, we will have more capacity to do a broader range. I don’t have a timeline for you. I don’t know when that would happen. But our focus right now is just trying to clear that backlog.
Q: What about the refugee program?
A: Right now, I don’t know that there are any plans to restart that.
Q: There is a lot of frustration among those who have been waiting for years for an immigrant visa in Cuba to come to the United States with this new parole program that allows people to come very quickly. What do you say to those who have been waiting for so long?
A: The administration’s goal is to try and have safe, orderly and legal migration. Folks who are in the Cuban Family Reunification Parole program are able to wait for immigrant visa processing in the United States.
People in the new parole program, they’re able to do an online process to be able to go to the United States. The advantage of that program is that you don’t need a link with the United States to be able to come. You need a sponsor, but that can be a church, an organization. You don’t have to have that immigrant link so a broader group of Cubans can access migration to the United States, legally, through the parole program.
Q: But people are still taking to the sea because they don’t have the connections or knowledge to connect with a sponsor in the U.S. Do you think the parole program would really stop sea migration?
A: Well, I think it’s too early. We’re doing our best to amplify the information about how to access the program on the island. We are also messaging that point that you don’t need to have family members in the U.S. Our hope is that people are able to find the sponsors and that sponsors in the United States will also be able to make themselves available to people who don’t have those kinds of things because nobody wants people dying in the ocean.
Q: What about the risk of people offering sponsorship in exchange for money?
A: Considering it’s (the Department of Homeland Security) running the program, they have noted there are effective means to control for illicit activity in that program. If you want the details of how they do it, you need to ask them, but certainly, that was a concern. And I think it’s a concern that they are very aware of.
Q: Can you provide any details of what was actually discussed in the recent law enforcement talks in Havana?
A: I’m not going to go into great detail. But it’s also important to realize this is a restoration of discussions that already existed. We have had 40 years of migration talks. So while human rights are our number one priority, it’s not the only priority. The national security of the United States involves an island that’s 90 miles off our coast, strategically positioned in the Caribbean, that could very much affect our national security.
So in the law enforcement talks, we talk about things like document fraud, irregular migration, the usage of Cuba by third-country nationals to migrate irregularly, cybercrime, material smuggling, all these things that affect the national security of the United States that Cuba has a role in. And we are very concretely aware that we are keeping those talks in the channels that benefit us. These are not concessionary talks; these are talks about our national security.
Q: Is the issue of Americans unjustly imprisoned in Cuba raised in these talks? Can you say how many Americans are currently detained in Cuba?
A: I don’t have the number. But we talked about all the human rights cases. Whether they’re American citizens, Cubans unjustly imprisoned, dissidents or reporters unjustly imprisoned, our goal is a free, democratic and prosperous Cuba.
Q: Can you share anything about the case of Alina López — a Cuban American teacher convicted of espionage in Cuba and later released on house arrest — and why she has not returned to the U.S. yet, even though she’s been released from prison?
A: Well, I think that’s a question for the Cuban government as to why they are not allowing her. But we talk about all cases with the Cuban government, whether it’s not allowing people to depart the island or to return to the island, we engage with them. There isn’t a meeting that goes by that we talk with the Cuban government that is not focused on human rights.
Q: U.S. Sen. Bob Menendez always raises the issue of Americans who have fled U.S. justice and taken refuge in Cuba. Has the Cuban government moved in its position, or are they never going to send them back?
A: It’s an issue that we engage with the Cubans. And one of the reasons why we have a law enforcement dialogue is because we can raise these issues directly with the people concerned. And they understand our desire to have these people face justice. And we have the expectation that they’ll respond appropriately.
Q: People who have been supporting the private sector in Cuba for years have mentioned that right now, the sector makes up a large part of the island’s economy. What’s your sense of the private sector? Is it really something the U.S. sees a future in supporting?
A: Absolutely. I meet with the private sector frequently. I know them. I can’t vouch for every single private sector on the island. But there are people who are succeeding despite the Cuban government and not because of the Cuban government.
There is a private sector in Cuba that is independent of the government that is succeeding despite the pressures that they’re working under. And certainly, a priority for us because they provide employment and they provide food, money, and support that government and state-owned enterprises certainly cannot, and so, in my view, they really are the future of Cuba.
