The Only Thing Trump Is Missing in Cuba Is a Plan

When I first served as a U.S. diplomat in Havana, from 2002 to 2004, the country was still recovering from a protracted economic crisis that had set in after the collapse of the Soviet Union. Even as the popularity of Cuba’s leadership declined amid scarcity and repression, the Castro government retained bastions of support in the Communist Party, the armed forces and the security services. I saw how, for these groups, the Cold War remained very much alive, as it did for their rivals in the large Cuban American community.