By The FirstWhen it comes to helping Cuba, the Biden administration didn’t go far enough.
In a tense exchange between Associated Press reporter Matt Lee and State Department spokesman Ned Price , Lee lambasts the President’s latest sanctions on Cuba, saying they don’t do “anything new” and the impact is “negligible.”
Here’s an excerpt from the exchange:
LEE: Okay. But I mean, the special brigade of the interior ministry was already covered by Global Magnitsky sanctions. So, you – so you’ve – you’ve added another designation on – I just don’t – the impact of this seems to me whatever the impact would have been – it seems to have been – it seems to be negligible, since they were already covered. So, I don’t quite understand how it is that you are presenting this as some grand new initiative to support the Cuban people, when in fact it’s simply adding another layer, which was really unnecessary, since they already were covered by the sanctions.
PRICE: I would make a couple points. Number one, the Global Magnitsky sanctions regime is an important tool we have that is applicable —
LEE: It is. But they were already under it.
PRICE: — that is – Alvaro Lopez Miera was?
LEE: No, I’m talking about the – that’s one person, okay, who most likely doesn’t have any assets or any dealings with American citizens.
PRICE: Just – just so – just so no —
LEE: So, let’s talk about what the real impact would be, would be if you designated the whole entity of the – a part of the interior ministry, like with the Iran sanctions, okay? That would have a much bigger impact, whatever that impact would be. But the fact of the matter is that they were already covered by Global Magnitsky sanctions. The exact same sanction, the exact same executive order was used to do this, and it doesn’t have any – it doesn’t do anything new.
