Latin America

The White House once again reminded the world on Wednesday that under Donald Trump, foreign policy is, above all, theater. When the president says, “we are liberating Cuba,” the world pauses, trying to understand whether this is the prelude to a military operation, a diplomatic bluff, or another act of political drama aimed at a domestic audience. The statement came only hours after the U.S. Department of Justice announced charges against Raúl Castro — the man who stood at the helm of Cuban power for nearly half a century and who has long symbolized, for successive American administrations, the indestructible enemy just off America’s shores. Yet between the grand rhetoric of liberation and the reality of the Cuban issue lies a vast gap filled with decades of failed attempts, economic embargoes, and geopolitical calculations.

The charges brought against Raúl Castro are difficult both to overstate in importance and to interpret unambiguously. For the American justice system, this is an unprecedented step. Never before has a former Cuban leader of such stature become the subject of a criminal case in the United States. The mere fact that the Department of Justice decided to take this step suggests a tectonic shift in Washington’s approach to the Cuban question. For decades, U.S. policy toward Cuba oscillated between isolation and cautious rapprochement, between embargoes and secret diplomacy. The current administration, however, appears determined to abandon all shades of gray.

Trump called the indictment “a very important moment.” For him, it undoubtedly is. The timing is perfect. Raúl Castro has long stepped away from formal power, handing the reins to a new generation, yet his name still carries enormous symbolic weight. For the Cuban diaspora in Miami — whose votes...