Trump not a threat to Cuba, the regime is

Trump not a threat to Cuba, the regime is
MIAMI HERALD EDITORIAL BOARD

Donald Trump's victory has sent shock waves through the United States —
and also to our nearest "frenemy" 90 miles away.

The president-elect clearly said during his campaign that he would
reverse the thaw in relations between Washington and Havana unless Raúl
Castro's government granted more political freedoms to the population.

On this subject, the Cuban regime continues to be deficient: Granting
the freedoms to which Mr. Trump referred is tantamount to going against
the very essence of the system.

The Editorial Board, though supportive of normalization, has been
disappointed with the pace of change in Cuba. In truth, the regime has
conceded very little.

In the final days of his campaign, Mr. Trump was endorsed by the
veterans of the Bay of Pigs invasion — a group of CIA-trained Cuban
exiles who unsuccessfully tried to topple the Fidel Castro regime in 1961.

Rightly, the island government fears that when Mr. Trump moves into the
White House, he will put President Obama's though back on ice. After
all, Cuba has seen an increase in the flow of capital it needs to keep
its failing economy afloat.

And on the streets, Cubans who dream of coming to the United States see
their goal at risk. They fear that Mr. Trump, who has often spoken of
reducing the influx of immigrants to the nation, will eliminate
migratory privileges, such as visas programs, that allow Cubans to
resettle in the United States.

It is possible that before Jan. 20, when the real-estate magnate takes
office, there will be increased attempts to cross the Florida Straits,
or there will be a jump in the number of Cubans making their way to the
United States through other countries.

No doubt, such a renewed exodus will have an impact on South Florida.

The restlessness on the island coincides with an announcement last week
of military exercises in Cuba. Cuban authorities say the exercises will
be held from Nov. 16 thru 18.

The objective is to "raise the country's willingness to defend and
prepare the troops and the population to deal with the enemy's different
actions," according to a statement in the official newspaper Granma.

But who is the enemy the Cuban government refers to in the announcement?

Is it the United States, the so-called "Yankee imperialist," the term
the Castro regime used for the United States before President Obama set
each nation on a road to cordiality? Keeping the population fearful and
alert for a possible foreign invasion from the United States has long
been a Castro tactic.

Just like previous Republican and Democratic administrations in the last
half a century, Mr. Trump likely has no interest in launching a military
operation against the old enemy. So ordering military exercises to
confront the hypothetical "enemy actions," is a sign of the paranoia
that has characterized the Cuban regime.

It is possible that the real intention of the Castro government with
these exercises is, as on previous occasions, to distract the people
from the real threats facing the Cuban people, those from within: lack
of freedoms, economic crisis, despair at the system failure.

The war maneuvers will be nothing more than a useless display of a
military power that has dissipated since the Soviet Union pulled out of
the island. Neither Mr. Trump nor anyone in the U.S. government
entertains the crazy idea of invading Cuba.

The real enemy of the Cubans is not in Washington, but on the island itself.

Source: Donald Trump presidency not a thret to Cuba, the regime on the
island is Cuban's real enemy | Miami Herald -
http://www.miamiherald.com/opinion/editorials/article114790723.html