Bernd Deboosman

Well, for one, President Trump, with the exception of Iran, he's very much refocused U.S.

foreign policy on Latin America.

We saw earlier in this administration the beginning of strikes on drug boats coming through the Caribbean, for example.

We've seen military strikes in Ecuador.

We've seen indictments against Iran.

current and former officials in Mexico.

And I think also it needs to be said, this is something that could benefit President Trump and the Republican Party more broadly politically here in the U.S.

As I mentioned, many, many Cuban-Americans feel very strongly about this.

And that's generally a block of people that has...

been in favor of President Trump.

But over the last year and a half, we saw those numbers start to slip the rather harsh immigration policies, which didn't spare newly arrived Cubans from detention centers, for example, or from having their political asylum blocked.

That was raising quite a lot of concern among Cuban-Americans in Florida and in other places.

And I think this move will be very popular among them, which benefits the White House and Republican candidates more broadly.

For one, I think its main strategic importance to the United States is that it's very close to its shores.

The distance between Cuba and Key West, the southernmost point of the United States, is just 90 miles.

And that's something that has raised alarm for decades since the communist revolution took Cuba in 1959.

Many

People will remember the Cuban Missile Crisis of 1962, for example, in which Russian missiles were based in Cuba, almost prompting what very well could have escalated into a nuclear war.

And we're seeing kind of a continuation of that.

Just this week, Defense Secretary Pete Hexeth raised concern that Russia and China could have intelligence-gathering functions in Cuba oriented to the United States.