Secretary of State Antony Blinken ignored the true reason to celebrate Cuban Independence Day, choosing to instead commemorate the day by celebrating the nation’s “diversity” instead.
Historically, Cubans celebrate May 20 for their independence from the U.S. in 1902 following the nation’s occupation after the Spanish-American war. The day observes the founding of the Republic of Cuba with the swearing-in of its first elected president Tomás Estrada Palma. Blinken’s tweet, however, appears to mischaracterize the holiday as one that celebrates the diversity of the Cuban people.
“Today we recognize the strength and diversity of the Cuban people,” Blinken wrote in a tweet on Thursday. “The United States honors and stands with Cubans who pursue freedom and a more prosperous future, and we recommit to accompanying the Cuban people in their quest to determine their own future.”
Today we recognize the strength and diversity of the Cuban people. The United States honors and stands with Cubans who pursue freedom and a more prosperous future, and we recommit to accompanying the Cuban people in their quest to determine their own future.
— Secretary Antony Blinken (@SecBlinken) May 20, 2021
This view, as noted by Cuban media strategist Giancarlo Sopo, doesn’t actually celebrate the formation of the Republic of Cuba. Instead, Blinken’s message seems to be “a bizarre way for Team Unity to reframe Cuban Independence Day as a woke holiday to appease domestic and Cuban leftists.”
“I don’t know a Cuban—here or in the island—who views 20 de mayo as a diversity holiday,” Sopo explained.
https://twitter.com/GiancarloSopo/status/1395439211222691842?s=20
“The statement exemplifies the Democrats’ strange politics,” Sopo continued. “On one hand, they reframe Cuban Independence in woke terms to appease their US base. On the other, they avoid any mention of 20 de mayo’s actual purpose to avoid angering the Cuban regime, which doesn’t recognize it.”
This tiptoeing by the president’s principal adviser on U.S. foreign policy, Sopo concluded, is a failed attempt at “Latino outreach.”
“This statement is the kind of culturally incompetent and ill-conceived ‘Latino outreach’ effort that characterized Biden. Cuban Americans will think it is stupid and pointless. And the regime will be annoyed you released *anything* 20 de mayo related in the first place,” he concluded.
https://twitter.com/GiancarloSopo/status/1395443161586049024?s=20
This isn’t Blinken’s first diplomatic blunder since assuming his position representing. In February, Blinken posted a photo of himself posing in front of an upside-down Mexican flag paired with a message about his virtual meeting with Mexican leaders regarding regional migration, illegal border crossings, and trade.
He also rhetorically cowered in a meeting with Chinese diplomats in Anchorage, Alaska during discussions about the communist regime’s attitudes towards “Xinjiang, Hong Kong, Taiwan, cyber attacks on the United States, economic coercion of our allies.”
