The State Department said on Tuesday that Cuba’s vocal support for Venezuela amid new U.S. sanctions on that country will not affect ongoing talks aimed at a rapprochement between Havana and the United States.
Cuba offered its "unconditional support" to Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro in the wake of the U.S. sanctions, according to a statement on state-run media. President Obama’s executive order, released on Monday, imposed financial and travel restrictions on seven Venezuelan government and military officials accused of organizing the abuse of anti-government protesters or engaging in corruption.
The president lifted commercial and travel sanctions on President Raul Castro’s government in December, and talks continue between Havana and Washington on the issues of opening embassies and removing Cuba from the U.S. state sponsors of terrorism list.
State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki said at a press briefing that despite Cuba’s defiance of the U.S. crackdown on rights abusers in Venezuela, the negotiations with Havana will not be affected.
"Discussions on the reestablishment of diplomatic relations with Cuba will continue as planned," she said.
Psaki also responded to claims by Maduro that the United States is attempting to destabilize his government. The socialist leader assailed the sanctions as a "rude outburst" from Obama in a speech late Monday that lasted more than two hours. His approval ratings have plummeted in Venezuela after its economy entered a recession last year and citizens suffered from widespread shortages of basic goods.
"There are specific reasons why each of those individuals under the executive order were sanctioned," Psaki said. "The United States remains an important trading partner, is actually Venezuela's largest trading partner, and despite the statements to the contrary from Venezuelan officials, we were not promoting instability in Venezuela. Rather, we believe respect for democratic norms and human rights is the best guarantee of Venezuela's stability, hence our executive order."
A White House statement on Monday had referred to the "unusual and extraordinary threat to the national security and foreign policy of the United States posed by the situation in Venezuela" to justify the executive order.
Cuba’s government vehemently disagreed with that characterization.
"No one has the right to intervene in the internal affairs of a sovereign state or to declare, without foundation, someone a threat to national security," Cuban state-run media said.
The Obama administration has toughened its stance on rights abuses in Venezuela while at the same time extending a hand to its closest partner in the region, Cuba.
Cuba allegedly sends hundreds of military advisers to Venezuela, as well as medical professionals, in return for tens of thousands of barrels of oil a day from the petrostate. Former Venezuelan officials and rights activists accused the Cuban advisers of helping to orchestrate the Maduro government’s repression of protesters last year that resulted in 43 deaths.
Sen. Marco Rubio (R., Fla.), who co-authored the act that gave Obama the authority to sanction Venezuelan leaders, criticized the administration’s approach toward nations with close military and financial links.
"Even as I welcome this round of sanctions, I question why President Obama is simultaneously moving to lift sanctions on Cuba, which has played a direct role in sowing unrest in Venezuela and has a human rights record even worse than the Maduro regime," he said on Monday in a statement. "Human rights violations in Venezuela stem directly from what the Cuban army and intelligence agency have taught the Chavez-Maduro regime."
Members of the Union of South American Nations (UNASUR)—a regional group that tends to support leftist governments—also rallied to Maduro’s defense.