, Columnist
A Cuban Capitalist Conversion Won’t Unlock Democracy
Freer markets won’t necessarily bring freer speech.
Photographer: Yamil Lage/AFP/Getty Images
The White House’s playbook for Cuba is now unmistakable: strip away the regime’s public face to secure a decisive strategic advantage while stopping short of outright regime change.
That’s the model the Trump administration followed in Venezuela after extracting Nicolás Maduro earlier this year, and the approach it now appears to be pursuing on the Communist island. According to a report by The New York Times on Monday, Donald Trump is seeking to push Cuba’s handpicked president, Miguel Díaz‑Canel, out of power while leaving intact the repressive, military-backed system that has governed the country since Fidel Castro’s 1959 revolution.