President Donald Trump's announcement Friday that he plans to tighten restrictions on travel and trade with Cuba drew mixed reactions from Colorado lawmakers, with Republican U.S. Sen.
As a part of the deal forged with Cuban President Raul Castro, Obama eased economic and trade restrictions that dated back to the USA embargo on Cuba that began in the 1960s.
The new policy will ban most USA business transactions with the Armed Forces Business Enterprises Group (GAESA), a sprawling conglomerate involved in all sectors of the economy, but make some exceptions, including for air and sea travel, the officials said.
The moves to be announced by Trump are only a partial reversal of Obama's policies, however.
"If you want Cuba to change and reform, we are doing the opposite of what would be most likely to bring about reforms", said Ben Rhodes, a former Obama aide who helped negotiate rapprochement. Under the expected changes, the USA will ban American financial transactions with the dozens of enterprises run by the military-linked corporation GAESA, which operates dozens of hotels, tour buses, restaurants and other facilities.
On Friday, 45 demanded that Cuba return social activist Joanne Chesimard, more notably known as Assata Shakur, and other American fugitives before the longstanding embargo could be lifted. The rules also require a daylong schedule of activities created to expose the travelers to ordinary Cubans.
"Having this opportunity supports our belief that the development of the Cuban economy is as beneficial to IL farmers as it is to Cuba".
But the announcement made by President Trump, prohibit solo trips to Cuba, but would allow group trips to continue.
Embassies in Washington and Havana will stay open and cruises and direct flights between the Washington and Havana will be protected under an exception from the prohibition on transactions with military-controlled entities.
What's the human cost of the Gulf row with Qatar?
On Friday, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu arrived in Saudi Arabia for talks with King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud. A view shows buildings in Doha, Qatar, June 9, 2017.
The statement says that "It's clear the anti-Cuba discourse is still widely needed".
To this day, Cuba is ruled by the same people who killed tens of thousands of their own citizens, who sought to spread their repressive and failed ideology throughout our hemisphere and who once tried to host enemy nuclear weapons 90 miles from our shores, Trump said.
It is expected that the Treasury and Commerce Departments will release precise regulations within 30 days. But scheduling the trip indicates the Cuba policy, which has been undergoing drafts for several weeks, will be imminently finalized.
And while his policy has the stated aim of helping the country's nascent private sector, it contains a measure that could damage thousands of small-business people who host, feed and transport independent American travelers to Cuba.
Cuba's 1,470-word statement Friday night labeled Trump a hypocrite for calling on Cuba to improve human rights, saying the USA government "is threatening more limits on health care that would leave 23 million people without insurance. and marginalizes immigrants and refugees, particular those from Islamic countries".
Trump's reversal will reinstate a number of travel and commercial restrictions between the US and Cuba. But those businesses host hundreds of thousands of Canadian, European and Latin American tourists a year, and do unfettered business with corporations from around the world, reducing the impact of any USA cutoff.
In a memo from the Trump administration, it notes "any further improvements in the United States-Cuba relationship will depend entirely on the Cuban government's willingness to improve the lives of the Cuban people", and also mandates regular reporting of progress toward this objective. "The Cuban people will continue deciding themselves on the changes necessary for Cuba".
In a speech in Miami, Donald Trump denounced what he called Barack Obama's "terrible and misguided deal with the Castro regime". USA farmers can continue selling their crops to the Cuban government.
Comments