U.S. tightens Cuba travel rules
Use of authorized tour groups among new requirements
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump’s administration on Wednesday tightened the economic embargo on Cuba, restricting Americans from access to hotels, stores and other businesses tied to the Cuban military.
A lengthy list of rules, which Trump promised in June to punish the communist government in Havana, came just as Trump was visiting leaders of the communist government in Beijing and pushing business deals there. Wednesday’s announcement was part of the administration’s gradual unwinding of parts of the previous administration’s detente with the Cuban government.
Americans wishing to visit Cuba will once again have to go through authorized tour operators, and tour guides
will have to accompany the groups — making such trips more expensive.
People who already have booked and paid for trips on their own will be allowed to go, and transactions with businesses on the barred list can be completed, the administration said. The new rules, which go into effect today, apply only to future travel and commerce. Eighty-three hotels are on the banned list.
While the rules will discourage some travel and business dealings between the countries, they do not ban them. Indeed, much of President Barack Obama’s opening to Cuba remains in place, including diplomatic ties.
In a conference call with reporters, senior administration officials said the new rules were intended to direct money and economic activity away from the Cuban military and security services, and toward businesses controlled by regular Cuban citizens.
To that end, the Treasury Department said it is expanding and simplifying a license that allows some U.S. exports to Cuba despite the embargo. They include tools and equipment to build or renovate privately owned buildings.
“We have strengthened our Cuba policies to channel economic activity away from the Cuban military and to encourage the government to move toward greater political and economic freedom for the Cuban people,” Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin said.
Officials said the widespread practice of renting rooms and eating meals in private homes in Cuba would continue to be allowed, as would renting cars from private citizens.
Among the hotels left off the banned list was Marriott International’s Four Points Havana Hotel, owned by the Cuban government, while a competitor operated by a foreign rival, the Gran Hotel Manzana Kempinski La Habana, is on the banned list.
Last month, Trump expelled 15 Cuban diplomats in the wake of mysterious afflictions that have stricken two dozen U.S. Embassy personnel in Havana, casting a Cold War chill over ties between the countries. Last week, Bruno Rodriguez, the Cuban foreign minister, said reports of attacks on American diplomats in Havana were “deliberate lies” intended to roll back warmer ties.
U.S. officials said the new rules had nothing to do with the diplomatic dispute over the afflictions.
Obama had sought to end the hostility and mistrust that had long characterized relations between countries 90 miles from each other. Obama argued that nearly a half-century of hostility had done little to change Cuba and much to tarnish the United States’ image in Latin America.
But opposition to the reconciliation was fierce among parts of the Cuban emigre community in Florida, and Trump’s promise to undo the policy may have contributed to his victory over Hillary Clinton in Florida, a crucial part of his electoral win.
Trump has warmly embraced autocrats such as King Salman of Saudi Arabia and praised the lethal anti-drug campaign of President Rodrigo Duterte of the Philippines, in addition to embracing President Xi Jinping of China.
But in June, the president promised in a speech that “we will not be silent in the face of communist oppression any longer” in Cuba.
Jose Miguel Vivanco, executive director of the Americas division of Human
Rights Watch, said the changes would not improve conditions in Cuba.
“To insist on an approach that has shown to be a total failure for decades is not going to be helpful,” Vivanco said.
Daniel Erikson, a White House adviser during the Obama administration, said the rules would probably confuse American visitors, who will have trouble figuring out which transactions are banned. The Trump administration said it would update the list of banned entities regularly.
“The big question is whether it’s possible for U.S. economic pressure to accelerate democratic change in Cuba, and for the last six decades there’s been very little evidence of a correlation,” Erikson said.
The new policy maintains several categories of travel to Cuba that are permitted despite the embargo, which carries on decades after the Cold War’s end.
Americans can still travel on educational and “people to people” trips as well as visits designed to support the Cuban people by patronizing privately owned small businesses that have popped up across the island in recent years.
But those traveling to support Cuba’s people must have a daylong schedule of activities designed to expose them to Cubans and steer dollars toward citizens, such as renting rooms in private homes. Those on organized, “people to people” or educational visits must be accompanied by
a representative of the U.S.based group organizing the trip.
Administration officials said that anyone found to be in violation of the rules could be criminally prosecuted.
Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., an advocate of improved U.S.-Cuban relations, noted that the announcement came as Trump was in China pushing more U.S. business engagement with another communist-run country. “The hypocrisy of the White House ideologues is glaring,” Leahy said.
Last week, the Trump administration revived its objection to an annual United Nations General Assembly resolution deploring the American trade embargo on Cuba. In a speech, Nikki Haley, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, said the “United States does not fear isolation in this chamber or anywhere else.”
In a Twitter post, Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., referring to Cuban leader Raul Castro, praised Haley’s speech, “Amen! @Nikki Haley reminds @UN they don’t have power over U.S. law & therefore no power over U.S. embargo on Castro.”