What Did U.S. Secretary Of State-Designate Antony Blinken Say About Cuba During His Confirmation Hearing? "Objectives... Makes Very Good Sense To Me"

Committee on Foreign Relations
United States Senate
Washington DC
19 January 2021

The Honorable Marco Rubio (R- Florida)
Ranking Member
Subcommittee on Western Hemisphere, Transnational Crime, Civilian Security, Democracy, Human Rights, and Global Women's Issues of the Committee on Foreign Relations

As you are well aware in Cuba there is a very small, but not real large or substantial, small private businesses. The bulk of the economic activity in that country is controlled by a holding company named GAESA [Grupo de Administración Empresarial S.A.] which controls basically anything that makes money.

And they actually, anytime they figure out something that might make money they pull it in. GAESA is controlled by the Cuban military and military officials. And the current administration, the Trump Administration, put in place a policy that prohibits financial transactions with any of those companies that are controlled by that holding company owned by the Cuban military.

So, theoretically if the Cuban Government would allow it you could, an independent Cuban could open a restaurant, a hotel, a business and do interact and have transactions, but not a company controlled by the Cuban military as identified through that holding company. Is that a policy you would recommend to the Biden Administration that we keep or not?

The Honorable Antony Blinken (D- New York)
Nominee
United States Secretary of State

Senator, I would propose to review that very very quickly. In terms of the objectives that you cite, that makes very good sense to me.

I think the question is and I don’t know enough to form a full judgement is to whether it is in fact achieving those objectives and are there any other costs or consequences we might want to look at. But, the, certainly, the objectives strike me as exactly the right one.

I would welcome an opportunity if confirmed to talk to you about that and by the way about our approach to Cuba more broadly.

Senator Rubio

On the issue of as a matter of theory, because obviously the Cuban Government can control, we can open-up whatever we want to them, but the Cuban Government controls what they allow and what they don’t allow.

So, as an example, if an individual Cuban decided to borrow money from a relative in the United States and open-up a business, they could do so under existing [United States] law potentially depending on how the transaction was structured, but the Cuban Government wouldn’t allow it, in fact they’ve cracked-down on that.

So, I think we could agree, could we not, that to the extent that it involves economic independence for Cubans, individuals or companies that they’re allowed to start, that’s one thing, but when it comes to these entities that are not state-controlled entities, there’re oligarchs that control it basically one individual largely because they want to be not just politically a totalitarian state but an economic totalitarian state that it would further the national interest of the United States to encourage more economic independence for the individual and less dependence on the state that gives them all this leverage over them?

So, I do sincerely hope that just because these were Trump [Administration] policies and I’m not claiming that’s what you’re saying, that we just don’t throw the whole thing out and say let’s go back to the Obama [Administration] policy that even some of the architects of it have since conceded could have been structured a little differently because they were unilateral and didn’t lead to some of results we thought.

I do think as you carefully review many of the steps that have been taken there is a logic and rationale behind each of them that I hope will be taken into account. I think it serves our national interest to do so.

The Miami Herald
Miami, Florida
23 November 2020

Excerpts:

Rubio’s office wouldn’t answer questions Monday about the senator’s position on Blinken’s nomination. But Rubio, who is Cuban American, was plenty critical of Blinken’s answers in 2014 when Rubio pressed him during a confirmation hearing on whether Obama would “unilaterally” move to lift sanctions on Cuba.

“Anything that might be done in Cuba would have to be consistent with the law,” Blinken, at the time Obama’s deputy national security adviser, said while appearing before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. “And second, anything that in the future that might be done in Cuba would be done in real consultation” with the committee.

A few weeks later, Blinken was confirmed by the Senate as deputy secretary of state. And the very next day, Obama announced that he’d ordered the State Department to establish an embassy in Havana for the first time in more than a half-century. He also moved to ease restrictions on travel, remittances and commerce on the island. When Blinken appeared before the foreign relations committee again in 2015, Rubio reminded him of his commitment, reading aloud Blinken’s previous statement on Cuba.

“I did not live up to the standard I set during that hearing and in the remarks that you just quoted. I think that I could have done a better job in engaging with you and consulting with you in advance,” Blinken told Rubio. “And I regret that.”

Background

The Trump Administration issued a 9 November 2017 deadline for United States companies to execute agreements with Revolutionary Armed Forces (FAR) of the Republic of Cuba-controlled Grupo de Administración Empresarial S.A. (GAESA), which has interests in the tourism, financial investment, import/export, and remittance sectors.  Agreements executed by 9 November 2017 would be permitted to remain in force.  

GAESA is on the State Department’s List of Restricted Entities and Subentities Associated with Cuba (“Cuba Restricted List” or “CRL”).  The CRL is a list of entities and subentities “under the control of, or acting for or on behalf of, the Cuban military, intelligence, or security services or personnel with which direct financial transactions would disproportionately benefit such services or personnel at the expense of the Cuban people or private enterprise in Cuba.” 

GAESA is on the List of Specially Designated Nationals and Blocked Persons by the OFAC pursuant to the Cuban Assets Control Regulations (CACR), 31 C.F.R. part 515.