Cuba appeared to be a low priority for Joe Biden, analysts say, even though there were significant efforts to end the 50-year US trade blockade with Cuba and normalise its relationship with its old Cold War foe when he was vice-president to Barack Obama.

Instead, relations between Washington DC and Havana appear to have retrenched. The US state department this week issued visa restrictions on eight Cuban government officials for their role in the detention and jailing of protestors from the July 11th demonstrations.  

In a statement, US secretary of state Antony Blinken denounced the Cuban government’s “attempts to deny Cubans their freedom and rights through continued intimidation tactics, unjust imprisonment, and severe sentences.”

The migrants who were repatriated last week arrived on a rickety open wooden boat with no deck or shelter and with “SOS Cuba” painted on its side, reflecting a pattern of Cubans risking their lives to attempt the crossing in often crude or makeshift vessels.  

In February 2021, sheriff’s deputies in Florida’s Martin County rescued eight dehydrated migrants, including two pregnant women, from a capsized raft made of polystyrene and metal rods after 16 days afloat.