U.S. restricts Cuba travel
Goal is to decrease aid to government
WASHINGTON — Americans seeking to visit Cuba must navigate a complicated maze of travel, commerce and financial restrictions unveiled Wednesday by the Trump administration, part of a new policy to further isolate the island’s communist government.
Now off-limits to U.S. citizens are dozens of Cuban hotels, shops, tour companies and other businesses included on a lengthy American blacklist of entities that have links to Cuba’s military, intelligence or security services. And most Americans will once again be required to travel as part of heavily regulated, organized tour groups run by U.S. companies, rather than voyaging toCuba on their own.
The stricter rules mark a return to the tougher U.S. stance toward Cuba that existed before former President Barack Obama and Cuban President Raul Castro restored diplomatic relations in 2015. They come as President Donald Trump tries to show he’s taking action to prevent U.S. dollars from helping prop up the Cuban government.
Still, the policy is only a partial rollback of Mr. Obama’s changes. Cruise ship visits and direct commercial flights between the countries will still be permitted. Embassies in Washingtonand Havana stay open.
The new policy maintains several categories of permitted travel to Cuba. 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 poppedup across the island in recentyears.
The rules are designed to steer U.S. economic activity away from Cuba’s military, intelligence and security services, which dominate much of the economy through state-controlled corporations. The goal is to encourage financial support for Cuba’s growing private sector, said senior Trump administration officials, who briefed reporters on a conference call on condition they not be quoted by name.
To that end, the Treasury Departmentsaid it is expanding and simplifying a license that allows some U.S. exports to Cuba despite the embargo. Theyinclude tools and equipmentto build or renovate privatelyowned buildings.
Mr. Trump announced his new policy in June during a speech in Miami’s Little Havana neighborhood, the cradle of Cuban-American resistance to Mr. Castro’s government.
Therules come amid deep strains in the U.S.-Cuba relationship stemming from invisible, unexplained attacks that have harmed more than two dozen U.S. government personnel in Havana since 2016. The attacks led the Trump administration to order most of its diplomats to leave Cuba in September and issue a sweeping travel warning urging Americans to stay away.