"This is due to their attempts to conduct influence operations against the United States," State Department spokeswoman Morgan Ortagus said Thursday.
The announcement came just days before world leaders descend on New York for the annual United Nations General Assembly. Foreign officials detailed to the United Nations generally have the right to work in New York under the agreement that established the international institution’s headquarters in the U.S., but Ortagus faulted the two Cubans for "abusing their privileges of residence," triggering the exception that allows diplomats to be kicked out.
"In addition to the required departures, travel within the U.S. by all members of Cuba’s Permanent Mission to the United Nations will now essentially be restricted to the island of Manhattan," Ortagus said.
The U.S. and Cuba have had an adversarial relationship dating back to Communist dictator Fidel Castro’s rise to power in 1959, the ensuing U.S. economic embargo of the regime, and the 1962 Cuban missile crisis. President Barack Obama moved to restore diplomatic relations with the regime in 2014, but the fragile relationship cratered again after a series of mysterious attacks in 2017 that left more than two dozen Americans and Canadians stationed in Havana with various brain injuries. The attacks prompted the expulsion of 15 Cuban diplomats from the U.S., as well as a reduction of the American presence in Havana.
Pompeo regards Cuban security services as the chief reason Venezuelan strongman Nicolás Maduro has been able to resist international pressure to relinquish power to Juan Guaidó, the opposition lawmaker Trump and other world leaders have acknowledged as the legitimate interim president of the country. U.S. intelligence officials under Obama and Trump have identified Cuba repeatedly as one of the top spy threats against the U.S. along with China, Russia, and Iran.
"We take any and all attempts against the National Security of the United States seriously, and will continue to investigate any additional personnel who may be manipulating their privileges of residence," Ortagus said.