Sanctions prohibit imports from Cuba
President Donald Trump has announced a series of new sanctions against Cuba that prohibit Americans from importing Cuban cigars andrumand fromstaying in hotels funded by the Cuban government.
The restrictions follow a series of measures announced by the Trump administration last year that aimed to curtail travel to Cuba from the U.S., including a ban on cruise ships, private yachts, fishing vessels and group educational and cultural trips.
The Treasury Department said Wednesday that U.S. citizens also will be restricted from attending or organizing conferences in Cuba and participating in public performances, clinics, workshops, competitions and exhibitions on the island.
“Today, as part of our continuing fight against communist oppression, I amannouncing that the Treasury Departmentwillprohibit U.S. travelers fromstaying at properties ownedby the Cuban government,” Trump said at a White House event honoring Bay of Pigs veterans.
“These actions will ensure that U.S. dollars do not fund the Cuban regime and go directly to the Cuban people,” he added.
Cuba currently is closed to foreign travelers because of the coronavirus pandemic, but when it opens, U.S. citizenswill be banned from lodging at 433 hotels funded by the Cuban government or “certain well-connected insiders,” the State Department said, urging travelers to instead stay in private accommodations, or “casas particulares,” owned and operated by “legitimately independent entrepreneurs.”
“The Cuban regime has been redirecting revenue fromauthorized U.S. travel for its own benefit, often at the expense of the Cuban people,” Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said in a statement Wednesday. “This administration is committed to denying Cuba’s oppressive regime access to revenues used to fund their malign activities, both at home and abroad.”
A Cuban Embassy official in Washington told Reuters that the application of sanctions against Cuba has not achieved the proposed objectives for 60 years.
“It is awrong policy that is widely rejected by American society and even among Cuban Americans,” the official said.