President Joe Biden said on Thursday that Cuba is a “failed state” and called communism a “failed system” as Cubans protest for their freedom.
“Cuba is unfortunately a failed state and repressing their citizens. There are a number of things that we would consider doing to help the people of Cuba, but it would require a different circumstance or a guarantee that they would not be taken advantage of by the government,” Biden said. “For example, the ability to send remittances back to Cuba. We would not do that now because the fact is it’s highly likely the regime would confiscate those remittances or big chunks of it.”
When asked about his views on communism, the President added: “Communism is a failed system — a universally failed system. And I don’t see socialism as a very useful substitute. But that’s another story.” On Friday, Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel responded to Biden’s comments by calling on him to repeal Trump’s moves.
“If President Joe Biden really had humanitarian concerns for the Cuban people he would eliminate the 243 measures applied by President Donald Trump, including 50 imposed cruelly during the pandemic,” Diaz-Canel posted on his official Twitter account. He added, “The US has failed in its attempts to destroy Cuba, although by trying to achieve it has wasted millions of dollars.”