White House Previews Trump's Overhaul Of Cuba Policies

Adjust Comment Print

Trump will announce the changes to the Obama-era policies that improved United States relations with Cuba in a speech in Miami, Florida, on Friday, POLITICO reported on Thursday.

"The President has made clear that he will look toward repressive regimes in this hemisphere... the Cuba policy needs to change", a senior administration official said.

The moves to be announced by Trump are only a partial reversal of Obama's policies, however.

Under Trump's new travel restrictions, commerce with businesses run by the military branch of the Cuban army will be strictly forbidden.

He hasn't seen his life improve much since the US and Cuba re-established friendly relations, but the restart of commercial flights after a half-century gave his wife hope she could afford to visit her 19-year-old son who emigrated to the USA two years ago. The rules also require a daylong schedule of activities created to expose the travelers to ordinary Cubans.

Obama eliminated the tour requirement, allowing tens of thousands of Americans to book solo trips and spend their money with individual bed-and-breakfast owners, restaurants and taxi drivers.

Of major note, there will be no change to the "wet foot, dry foot" policy and the US embassy in Cuba will also remain open.

When Obama lifted the ban on Americans bringing Cuba's fabled cigars and rum home from travel overseas for personal use, many took the opportunity to light one up and sip a glass of añejo. Although the citizens of this country will be allowed to make payments of goods and services to the private sector, the new measures would increase the requirements that should be met by those interested in visiting Cuba. The official said that there also won't be any changes to regulations on what Americans can bring back from Cuba.

Bat-Signal at LA City Hall honors Adam West
Before Michael Keaton or Ben Affleck donned the Batsuit, West starred as the Caped Crusader in the classic 1960s Batman TV series. Sadly, the animated film is the last project that Adam West worked on before losing his brief battle with leukemia.

While there was a degree of initial euphoria that Cuba would become the next hot destination on the bucket lists of throngs of travelers when Obama and Cuba opened things up, it hasn't turned out that way as the demand wasn't there and the infrastructure was lacking.

Under Obama, the two countries restored diplomatic ties and direct communications, including air connections and postal service.

The Trump administration will also oppose any proposal or measure in global bodies such as the United Nations to lift the trade embargo imposed more than half a century ago. The embargo remains in place and unchanged by Trump's policy. U.S. Rep. Mario Diaz-Balart, and U.S. Sen.

"The president is not opposed to ANY [sic] deal with Cuba, he is just opposed to a bad deal", the statement read, adding that business-to-business relations were still possible, as long as "they don't enrich the Cuban military complex".

Rubio was very vocal about Obama normalizing relations with Cuba and went as far as to block the President's pick for ambassadors who were part of that agenda.

Detailing a new National Security Presidential Memorandum, Trump is also expected to announce stricter enforcement of rules under which Americans can travel to Cuba. The venue is named after a leader of the failed US -backed Bay of Pigs invasion of Cuba in 1961 against Fidel Castro's revolutionary government. Marco Rubio, both Cuban-American Republicans from South Florida.

In the final years of his term in office, former US President Barack Obama initiated a diplomatic breakthrough with the former Cold War foe, which included the restoration of relations and the reopening of embassies. The theater is named for an exile leader of the Bay of Pigs veterans' association that endorsed Trump last October. He tells us, for him, it is something he has always wanted to do.

Comments