The decision by the Dominican Republic to order the departure of nine officials from the Cuban Embassy in Santo Domingo triggered a wave of reactions on social media this Thursday, with many Cubans celebrating the measure and interpreting it as a new sign of the growing diplomatic isolation of the Havana regime in the region.
"That's great, little by little the noose is tightening around them," wrote a user in one of the comments that captured the sentiment of those who welcomed the news with satisfaction.
The Dominican Foreign Ministry confirmed on Thursday the departure of Cuban officials, relying on Article 9 of the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations, which empowers the receiving state to declare members of a diplomatic mission as persona non grata without being obliged to publicly explain the reasons.
The nine officials and their families—around 21 people in total—must leave Dominican territory before Sunday, August 16.
Santo Domingo has kept the specific reasons for the decision under wraps, but the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Cuba (MINREX) issued a stern statement rejecting the measure "in the strongest possible terms" and directly holding the United States responsible.
"There is no other explanation for this action except for the submission of the government of the Dominican Republic to the pressures of the U.S. government," asserted the Cuban Foreign Ministry, which also denied that its officials had engaged in any wrongdoing.
The explanation from Havana sparked new criticism on social media.
"I've just started reading 'Cuba rejects...' and that's all I will read. You reject it, don't generalize; what the Cuban people reject, and they reject a lot, is far from over," commented an internet user, challenging the government to speak on behalf of all Cubans.
Another person directly responded to the argument about the supposed pressures from Washington: "Why not just explain the reasons they were given? They have an absolute fixation on the United States; they are convinced that the Cuban people are stupid."
"No one should have diplomatic relations with a dictatorship."
The comments largely reflected a particularly critical tone towards the Cuban regime and its diplomatic representations.
"That's called getting rid of the trash; no one should have diplomatic relations with a dictatorship," wrote a user.
Another made a common accusation among certain sectors of the exile community regarding the roles of some Cuban representations abroad: “They were not diplomats, they were spies.”
These statements reflect opinions from users on social media and have not been supported by evidence from the Dominican authorities, who have not yet disclosed the specific reasons for the measure.
A minority of commentators, on the other hand, defended the position of the Cuban government and viewed Santo Domingo's decision as a sign of subordination to U.S. foreign policy, in line with the argument made by the MINREX.
The Cuban Foreign Ministry cited as background for this alleged alignment the exclusion of Cuba from the X Summit of the Americas and the Dominican Republic's change of stance at the United Nations regarding the resolution against the U.S. embargo.
The distance between Santo Domingo and Havana is growing
The diplomatic crisis comes after months of signals indicating a rift between the two governments under the presidency of Luis Abinader.
In May, the Dominican leader publicly stated that Cuba "is not a democratic state", a somewhat unusual statement in the bilateral relationship that highlighted the growing political differences with Havana.
The episode also takes place in a challenging regional context for Cuban diplomacy.
In March, Ecuador ordered the expulsion of all Cuban diplomatic personnel in Quito, giving its members just 48 hours to leave the country.
That same month, Costa Rica closed its embassy in Havana and requested the regime to withdraw its personnel from San José.
In July, the then-elected president of Colombia, Abelardo de la Espriella, announced the severance of diplomatic relations with Cuba and Nicaragua as part of a reorganization of Colombia's foreign presence.
Havana promises "unwavering friendship" to the Dominican people
Despite blaming the Abinader government for aligning with Washington, the MINREX sought to separate the crisis between both governments from the historical ties between Cubans and Dominicans.
In its statement, Havana acknowledged that the decision "significantly harms the ties between the two governments," but assured that it will maintain its "steadfast friendship" toward the Dominican people.
On social media, however, numerous Cubans reacted from a perspective very different from that expressed by the Foreign Ministry.
For them, the departure of the diplomats is not an affront to Cuba, but rather a new setback for a regime they hold responsible for decades of repression, economic crisis, and mass exodus.
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