The first semester of the Trump administration has offered some clues about a strong foreign policy against the Havana dictatorship. Despite fears that an isolationist wing might push the White House to neglect the region, the 47th president has given the Castro regime more than one bitter pill to swallow.
President Trump’s consistency regarding Cuba as a state sponsor of terrorism led him to return the island to that black list on two occasions: first, after Barack Obama’s decision to remove it, and again in 2025, countering the false Biden administration view that Cuba was already cooperating in the fight against terrorism.
Among the deportations, several Cuban regime officials who sneaked in the United States during Biden’s and other administrations have been returned to Cuba recently.
In March, it was reported that agents from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and the FBI arrested a suspected former Cuban spy in Florida, as part of an investigation into fraudulent statements made on his application for permanent residency in the United States.
Former Cuban judge Melody González Pedraza, former president of the Municipal Court of Encrucijada in Villa Clara province, who entered the U.S. in May 2024 under the humanitarian parole program, received a final deportation order from the United States in May.
At the same time, the national security memorandum signed by Trump in June 2025 reinstates a policy of maximum pressure on Cuba’s socialist tyranny, reversing rapprochement measures promoted under President Biden.
It prohibits direct or indirect financial transactions with Cuban military entities and restricts U.S. tourism to the island — a key source of foreign currency for the Castro regime, which controls all tourist facilities in the country and relies on them as one of its main sources of revenue.
At the most recent meeting of the Organization of American States, held in Antigua and Barbuda, the U.S. delegation questioned the political effectiveness of the organization; one of the reasons it mentioned was the persistence of dictatorships and failed states in the region.
In addition to a strong foreign policy against the Havana dictatorship during its first six months in the White House, the administration has promoted several Cuban Americans to key diplomatic posts. Many of them are connected to Florida, especially Miami, a historic Cuban enclave in the land of freedom. Behind each of them lie incredible stories that enrich the American dream.
One of them, businessman Benjamín León Jr., has been nominated — pending Senate confirmation — to serve as ambassador to Spain.
He was born in Oriente, Cuba, in 1944 and went into exile with his family in 1961, fleeing the socialist regime. They arrived in Miami with only five dollars, and between 1964 and the following decade, he co-founded several clinics, which he sold to UnitedHealthcare in 1994 for about $500 million.
In 1996, he founded León Medical Centers, which serves nearly 50,000 Medicare patients and employs more than 2,000 professionals.
On the other hand, young Kevin Marino Cabrera, born on September 3, 1990, in Miami and the son of Cuban exiles, took office in early 2025 as U.S. Ambassador to Panama.
Peter Lamelas, nominated as ambassador to Argentina and pending of confirmation, is a successful entrepreneur, having served as founder and ex-president of MD Now Urgent Care, one of the biggest services of urgent care in Florida. He was born in Cuba but went into exile with his family; his posture against totalitarianism is frontal.
More recently, Trump appointed Bernie Navarro as ambassador to Peru. In a message on the social network Truth Social, the president described the Cuban American as “a highly respected leader in real estate finance and economic recovery,” and acknowledged his service as chairman of the Miami Dade College Board of Trustees.
Mauricio Claver-Carone, Special Envoy from the State Department to Latin America, is a veteran in government. A Georgetown alumni, he presided over the Interamerican Bank of Development between 2020 and 2022. He also served in the White House and the Treasury Department during the first Trump administration as main assessor for the Western Hemisphere, with emphasis on putting pressure on the Chavism in Venezuela.
Likewise, at the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights of the Organization of American States, the Trump administration nominated Cuban-born Rosa María Payá, a naturalized U.S. citizen and a well-known voice within the exile community in Florida.
As the icing on the cake, there is Marco Rubio, who assumed the role of chief diplomat.
Born in 1971 in Miami to Cuban exile parents, Rubio was unanimously confirmed by Congress for his position as Secretary of State. His now long political career began in 1998 as commissioner of West Palm Beach, Florida. He has since served as chair of the Senate Intelligence Committee.
Rubio also serves as National Security Advisor, Acting Administrator of USAID, and Archivist of the United States, becoming the first Hispanic to hold all four positions simultaneously, according to Vox.com.
It is not the first time that U.S. citizens of Cuban descent have served in American diplomacy — former Ambassador to Venezuela Otto Reich was one of them, and he remains a highly respected figure in the exile community. However, what stands out is the number of Cuban American names appointed by the White House in the current term, and there is a strong possibility that this number will continue to grow.
As political scientist Julio M. Shiling has emphasized, President Trump has long had a special connection with Cubans, who strongly supported his reelection and the MAGA movement. This relationship began even before he entered politics, notably through his statements in favor of Cuban freedom at events like the one at the Brigade 2506 Museum in Miami, reflecting mutual affinity and loyalty.
AUTHOR
Yoe Suarez
Yoe Suárez is a writer, producer, and journalist, exiled from Cuba due to his investigative reporting about themes like torture, political prisoners, government black lists, cybersurveillance, and freedom of expression and conscience. He is the author of the books “Leviathan: Political Police and Socialist Terror” and “El Soplo del Demonio: Violence and Gangsterism in Havana.”
EDITORS NOTE: This Washington Stand column is republished with permission. ©All rights reserved.
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Author: Family Research Council
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