Foreign Policy

Trump Blames Cuba But The State Department Says Otherwise

Written by SK Ashby

Trump ran his mouth in the Rose Garden yesterday afternoon where he casually stated that Cuba is responsible for the so-called "sonic attacks" on American diplomats in Havana, but the United States government has not officially blamed Cuba.

In fact, all American diplomats received a message yesterday that said the culprits have not been identified.

The president did not elaborate. But in a cable sent Monday to all overseas U.S. diplomatic posts, the State Department said it has “not assigned blame to the Government of Cuba.”

“We are still investigating these attacks and do not know who or what is behind them. We continue to exchange information with Cuban investigators,” said the diplomatic cable. Marked “sensitive,” the cable laid out the rationale for the steps the U.S. has taken in response to the attacks, including pulling more than half its diplomats from Cuba and kicking out 15 Cuban diplomats in the United States.

It's not clear if this diplomatic cable was delivered before or after Trump's remarks, but I assume the cable was at least written before Trump popped off. The Cuban government did not immediately react to Trump's comments and I interpret that as them placing as much stock in his words as you or I do, which is to say very little.

It's within the realm of possibility that Trump has seen classified information and that led him to accuse the Cuban government yesterday, but it's more likely that he was just making shit up.

This rogue accusation will go under reported and appreciated, but it shouldn't. American credibility is suffering a death by a thousand cuts, which each cut coming from Trump's big mouth. Trump's accusation came just days after he made it clear that he intends to abandon the Iran nuclear deal. We've also abandoned the Kurdish people who've fought ISIS for us for the past several years. Our word won't be worth spit when Trump is finished.