U.S. loosens restrictions on Cuba travel, banking access
HAVANA— The Obama administration punched a new series of holes in the U.S. trade embargo on Cuba on Tuesday, turning a ban on U.S. tourism to Cuba into an unenforceable honour system and paving the way for Cuban athletes to one day play Major League Baseball and other U.S. professional sports.
Five days before the first presidential trip to Havana in nearly 90 years, the U.S. also eliminated a ban on Cuban access to the international bank- ing system. The inability to send or receive payments that passed through the U.S. banking system had crippled the country’s ability to trade with third countries and became a major hindrance to the U.S. attempt to normalize relations with Cuba. “The simple basis of our policy is that by loosening these restrictions we are better able to engage with the Cuban people, to support them and to build bridges between our two countries,” deputy national security adviser Ben Rhodes said. “We deeply believe that this is in America’s na- tional interest.” The Cuban government made no immediate comment.
Tuesday’s announcement allows Cuban citizens to earn salaries in the United States as long as they don’t pay special taxes in Cuba, specifically mentioning athletes, artists and performers as potential beneficiaries. Until Tuesday, only Cubans who had begun the process of emigrating to the U.S. could legally earn money in the United States beyond a tiny living stipend.
Major League Baseball is negotiat- ing with both the U.S. and Cuban governments to create a legal means for Cuban baseball players to play in the U.S. without having to abandon their country, eliminating the need for some of the world’s highestpriced baseball talent to use human traffickers to get to the major leagues. As for ordinary Americans, they can now take “people-to-people” educational trips to Cuba on their own instead of joining expensive group tours. That means any American can legally go to Cuba after filling out a form asserting that their trip is for educational purposes instead of tourism. They’ll have to keep records for five years about what they did in Cuba, but won’t have to submit them unless asked.
The Obama administration previously allowed independent travel for specific purposes such as supporting religious organizations or participating in sports events. Tuesday’s move was expected to have greater impact because the definition of educational travel is so amorphous it can include virtually any activity that isn’t lying on a beach drinking mojitos.