Change has implications for local economy.
Many local entrepreneurs want a foothold in the untapped market
Houstonians have enjoyed more direct access to Cuba this past year with trade delegations, nonstop flights and “people-to-people” educational trips. But on Friday, President Donald Trump announced new policies to tighten such travel and trade capabilities.
“Effective immediately, I am canceling the last administration’s completely one-sided deal with Cuba,” Trump said during a speech in Miami.
The implications in Houston could mean fewer travelers on United Airlines’ nonstop flight from Bush Intercontinental Airport to Havana. It could also mean a modest drop in exports from the Port of Houston, said Mark Jones, political scientist at Rice University’s Baker Institute for Public Policy.
But ultimately, the U.S. will maintain its embassy in Cuba, and U.S. citizens and companies can still travel to and trade with Cuba, albeit in a narrowed capacity, said Felix Chevalier, a local lawyer representing cli-
ents with Cuban interests.
“It could have been worse,” he said. “The devil will be in the details of the regulatory revisions.”
That doesn’t console businesses wanting a foothold in the untapped market.
“This is a huge setback,” said Laura Murillo, president and CEO of the Houston Hispanic Chamber of Commerce.
Having participated in Mayor Sylvester Turner’s business delegation to Cuba earlier this year, Murillo said she saw tremendous business opportunities for Houstonians in Cuba.
The city’s proximity to the island nation, shared languages and cultural ties, and Cuba’s willingness to open its doors to local entrepreneurs in a variety of industries placed Houston in the best position to maximize relations with Cuba, Murillo said.
That opportunity, she said, is now upended.
“Houstonians, for the most part, want to do business with whoever wants to do business with them,” she said.
Many businesses will be monitoring the situation. United Airlines, for instance, said it is reviewing the policy changes.
Airlines will be affected by the requirement that travel for non-academic educational purposes be limited to group travel. The self-directed individual travel allowed by President Barack Obama’s administration will be prohibited. Cuban-Americans will still be able to visit family in Cuba and send remittances.
Trump’s policy prohibiting financial transactions with companies controlled by Cuba’s military could complicate some exports. Jones said the export of food products, construction materials and IT materials were somewhat opened by Obama’s administration.
Construction materials and IT materials are more likely to be affected because those items are usually sent to organizations tightly linked with the Cuban military, Jones said.
Trump emphasized in his speech that these new policies are designed to help the Cuban people. He said the U.S. will not lift sanctions on the Cuban regime until political prisoners are released, freedom of assembly and expression are respected, political parties are legalized, and free and internationally supervised elections are scheduled.
“My action today bypasses the military and the government to help the Cuban people themselves form businesses and pursue much better lives,” Trump said.
Trump’s logic is that exporting to companies not linked to the Cuban military provides private entities with a competitive advantage, Jones said.
Jorge Ferragut, executive director of Casa Cuba, a Houston-based social organization with strong sentiments in opposition to the Cuban government, appreciated Trump’s acknowledgment of many of its citizens’ plight on the island.
“At the very least, this is moral support for the Cuban people,” he said.
While it may not have been Obama’s intent to financially support the Castro regime, Ferragut said, the ex-president’s deal ultimately may have legitimized the militarized state due to the way business licenses have been administered. Much of the money flowing into Cuba from the U.S. was managed by the same Cuban government that has been imprisoning dissidents, he said.
Sen. Ted Cruz expressed similar sentiments.
“America should not be subsidizing the machinery of this communist government which has been exporting terror throughout Latin America for decades,” he said. “Instead, we should be using American policy to encourage genuine democratic reforms and leadership in Cuba. I look forward to working with my colleagues and the administration to protect and enhance freedom for the Cuban people.”
Others, however, cited the benefits of free travel.
“Americans should be able to travel to any country they want,” said Mike Weingart, Houston-based president of the southwest chapter of the American Society of Travel Agents.
Weingart was in Washington last week with other travel agents to lobby for legislation that would get rid of the travel ban.
The Freedom to Travel to Cuba Act would repeal all provisions of law relating to U.S. residents’ travel to Cuba in their entirety, saying simply that “the presi- dent may not prohibit or otherwise regulate, directly or indirectly, travel to or from Cuba by United States citizens or legal residents,” according to a news release.
Jones, however, said this legislation is unlikely to be successful. Opening access to Cuba is widely supported in America, but it’s not passionately supported. Opposition to normalized relations, however, has very loud supporters.
“It’s not a coincidence that Trump gave this speech in the epicenter of anti-Castro sentiment,” Jones said.
He added that Trump isn’t restoring the so-called “wet foot, dry foot” policy that allowed Cubans to stay legally in the U.S. if they made it to the American border. Obama repealed that policy earlier this year.
Because of Trump’s position on immigration, Jones said the president could get backlash for restoring this policy.
“He’s making a symbolic gesture to Cuban-Americans,” Jones said, “but he’s not going as far as he could, which would be restoring the wet foot, dry foot policy.”
Ferragut said it will take more than the policies announced Friday to truly help Cubans escape the abuse of the Castro regime.
“President Trump won’t be able to fix this,” he said.