Panel - Relations between Cuba, U.S. remain uncertain under Trump

Panel: Relations between Cuba, U.S. remain uncertain under Trump
BY LEÓN HERNÁNDEZ
lhernandez1@elnuevoherald.com

It is still uncertain what will happen between the United States and
Cuba under President Donald Trump, several journalists who took part in
a panel discussion on that topic at the Hispanicize 2017 conference in
Miami said Tuesday.

"It's a mystery. Nobody knows, nobody knows when Trump is going to take
a step," said Pablo de Llano, the Florida and Cuba correspondent for the
El País newspaper. "He will have some dialogue with the Cuban American
community, apparently Senator Marco Rubio is trying to influence the
issue, but what can be deduced is that it is not at all a priority."

De Llano was joined on the panel, "What is the future of relations
between Cuba and the United States in 2017?," by Rick Jervis, USA Today
correspondent; Myriam Márquez, executive editor of el Nuevo Herald;
Angie Sandoval, Telemundo correspondent; and Hatzel Vela, Cuba
correspondent for WPLG Local 10.

"What interests Cuba is to have the embargo lifted in order to have
access to the credits that other countries have," Márquez said.
"Venezuela is on fire. They know they do not have much time. So what can
the Raúl Castro regime do to change that equation, with a man like
Trump, who no one knows which way he is going to turn? That's going to
be the most interesting thing."

The thaw between the U.S. and Cuba, spurred by the Obama administration,
was also addressed by panelists.

"The population has not seen much of that transformation," Sandoval
said. "What is true is that people have been able to dream about seeing
something more. But the one that has benefited the most economically
with the opening is the Cuban government."

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Source: US-Cuba relations uncertain under Trump, Hispanicize
participants say | Miami Herald -
http://www.miamiherald.com/news/nation-world/world/americas/cuba/article142697714.html