Mike “Another Day, Another Country to Destroy” Pompeo Hits Cuba

On Monday, Secretary of State Pompeo took a break from poking Russia and China in the eye while starving Houthis, Iranians, Venezuelans, and Nicaraguans to death, to designate Cuba once again as a state sponsor of terrorism, and thereby subject to economic sanctions. Think what you might about some aspects of Cuban foreign policy, the designation is a blatant hoax. It does not even charge that Cuba is carrying out acts of terrorism, merely that it grants safe harbor to a number of terrorists from other countries and U.S. fugitives (who have been hiding out in Cuba for decades), buttressed by the assertion that “the Cuban regime engages in a range of malign behavior across the region,” specifically providing military and intelligence support to Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro. As usual, the terrorism designation subjects Cuba to U.S. sanctions that not only penalize Cuba, but “persons and countries engaging in certain trade with Cuba.”