Latin America is looking to be the next frontier of contentious geopolitics as Russia and the Communist Chinese Party (CCP) increase their presence in the region. Now, US Congressman Mario Diaz-Balart (R-FL) is pressuring the Biden Administration, claiming the president's weakness is emboldening our enemies.
Cuba will now be hosting a Chinese base on the island nation shattering the long-established norms of foreign policy for the Western world. The United States has long defended the Americas from the military presence or interference from their enemies, but this new base will seek to keep an eye on the USA.
China has been helping the Cuban dictatorship stay afloat for years, providing billions in loans, donating $100 million in the wake of Hurricane Ian, and provided trade and investment credits. The PRC has become the primary technology provider for ETECSA, Cuba’s state-run telecommunications company. Reportedly, the regime’s internet access is provided exclusively through PRC companies Huawei, TP-Link, and ZTE, which have shared the PRC’s ability to censor and shut down internet access at will.
The Cuban government also provides official Spanish-language training for Chinese personnel and allows China to maintain a propaganda-providing Confucius Institute at the University of Havana. The Cuban dictatorship joined Communist China’s Belt and Road Initiative in 2018.
"The malign activities of Communist China and the Cuban dictatorship have merged to establish an espionage base just off our shores in Cuba," said Congressman Balart. Balart added, "The establishment of a Communist Chinese base within totalitarian Cuba is a dangerous incursion into our hemisphere and reveals an increasingly aggressive Communist China willing to threaten U.S. interests in our own backyard."
"The Biden Administration must condemn this threat to our national security interests, cease increasing diplomatic engagement or the relaxation of sanctions against the Cuban regime, and prevent these dangerous, anti-American adversaries from establishing a base to conduct espionage, cyberattacks, or other threats to the United States. It is clear that the Biden Administration’s weakness is emboldening our enemies. The deepening ties between our adversaries Communist China, Cuba, and Russia constitute a dangerous escalation of anti-American activity just miles from our shores."
Conservative constituents could very well see protecting the Western world at the heart of their concerns in 2024 and future elections if Socialist regimes continue to rise at the assistance of the CCP and Russia.
