Trump unlikely to reverse Obama's policy on Cuba: American writer

US President-elect Donald Trump is unlikely to reverse President Barack Obama's improved ties with Cuba, says James Petras, an American writer and political commentator.

Petras, a professor emeritus of sociology at Binghamton University in New York, and adjunct professor at Saint Mary's University in Halifax, Canada, made the remarks in an interview with Press TV on Monday, a day after two Republican senators of Cuban descent, Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio, called on Trump to re-evaluate Obama's policy on Cuba.

The families of Cruz and Rubio had been supporters of former Cuban dictator Fulgencio Batista, who was deposed in the 1959 Cuban Revolution led by Fidel Castro. Castro died on Friday at the age of 90.

Following the death of Castro, the US senators, who have often railed against the revolutionary Cuban government, slammed President Obama's restoration of diplomatic ties with the Latin American country.

Professor Petras said there is “no question that once he becomes president, Trump could reverse Obama’s policies on Cuba. The question is whether he will do it, because there are already enormous numbers of businesses, tourist airlines, tourist companies, businessmen who are engaged in very favorable relations with Cuba.”

“The question is how much of Trump’s demagogy to the Cuban exiles in Florida will count in his foreign policy. Trump calls himself a businessman who wants to make economic deals with countries like Russia and others,” he stated.

“So I think one has to say that his belligerent rhetoric may be tempered to try to extract some limited concessions from Cuba that could satisfy some of the more extremists, [those who are] opposed to Cuba,” the analyst noted.

“One should also remember that 60 percent of people of original Cuban descent, whether they are children or grandchildren of people who left Cuba, are in opposition to the Obama policies,” he noted.

“The surveys that we have seen show that over 60 percent of people of Cuban background are in favor of opening and deepening relations with Cuba. They don’t feel the same animosity that the original exiles felt towards Cuba,” the prolific writer concluded.

The Obama administration and the government of Raúl Castro, Fidel’s brother, held 18 months of secret talks that led to a joint announcement on December 17, 2014, that the two long-time adversaries – the US and Cuba –  would restore diplomatic relations and release prisoners on both sides. The United States and Cuba restored diplomatic relations in July 2015.

Earlier this year, Obama visited Cuba and told Cubans in an unprecedented live television address that he came to their country to open a new chapter in the relations between Washington and Havana. He called for a new direction of peace and friendship between the US and Cuba.

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