The America First Policy Institute (AFPI), an ultraconservative US think tank, suggested more pressure on Cuba in a biased report based on what currently characterizes the narrative against the island: lies and slander.
From its title, “The Neighboring Dictatorship: Cuba and the Fight for the Western Hemisphere,” the 42-page document aligns itself with the discourse in Washington since President Donald Trump’s return to the White House in January 2025.
It presents the Caribbean nation as a threat to US national security, a sponsor of terrorism, and a danger in the Western Hemisphere—views that align with the current administration’s stance on the Caribbean country.
In that regard, the report made a series of recommendations to the executive branch regarding Cuba policy, based on the “America First” foreign and economic policy doctrine that prioritizes U.S. interests above all else.
Among the suggestions in the document released yesterday are: increasing economic pressure and sanctions; re-establishing a permanent U.S. military presence in the Caribbean; permanently assigning naval, Coast Guard, intelligence, air, cyber, and special operations forces to Southern Command; and expanding terrorism designations against Cuba.
The report recommends, for example, reviewing whether the Communist Party of Cuba (PCC) and other Cuban institutions and organizations meet Washington’s unilateral criteria for being designated as Foreign Terrorist Organizations.
Several appointments Trump made to his cabinet when he took office on Pennsylvania Avenue came from the America First Policy Institute, such as Brooke Rollins, his Secretary of Agriculture.
Linda McMahon, the current Secretary of Education, also served as chair of the AFPI’s board of directors, while former Attorney General Pam Bondi has handled the group’s legal affairs.
This think tank was founded in 2021 by Rollins and Larry Kudlow, former director of the National Economic Council during Trump’s first term (2017-2021).
According to some political observers, the AFPI has managed to place more of its members in high-profile positions than the Heritage Foundation, the conservative think tank that shaped the controversial Project 2025, which was once described as a kind of roadmap for Trump’s second term.
In an interview with Prensa Latina in May, Foreign Minister Bruno Rodríguez emphasized that the argument about the supposed threat from Cuba is fallacious and ridiculous. He stated that it “is intended to manipulate public opinion in the United States, Cuba, and the world.”
He affirmed that Cuba poses no threat to the United States government, its national security, or its foreign policy, firstly because it is a small island and the United States is a nuclear superpower, and secondly because it has a deep commitment to peace.
He stated that Cuba is a nation “that has always contributed to preserving international, hemispheric, and regional peace and security, and has made very important contributions to peace.”
[ SOURCE: PRENSA LATINA ]
