25 June, 2017
President Donald Trump will announce travel and business restrictions with Cuba in a Friday speech in Miami, White House officials told reporters Thursday. "While we are reviewing what this policy could mean for this type of travel, we appreciate that the policy appears to allow us to continue to support Airbnb hosts in Cuba who have welcomed travelers from around the world".
Two years after the Obama administration initiated the thawing of United States relations with Cuba, President Trump wants to partially roll back the rapprochement.
The policy however, Trump will not shut down any embassies or cut off the recently resumed direct U.S. -Cuba commercial flights - though his more restrictive policy seems certain to dampen new economic ties.
The firm - run by President Raul Castro's son-in-law Luis Rodriguez Lopez-Callejas - is now involved in joint ventures with several foreign firms that have driven tourism to the island, including the Marriott hotel chain. White House officials also noted that Americans can still bring Cuban cigars back from their trip.
Trump will justify his partial reversal of Obama's measures to a large extent on human rights grounds.
The group trips would require US visitors to travel with a guide from an educational group-a requirement the Obama policy had lifted. But even some global human rights groups critical of the Cuban government say that would mean doubling down on a failed policy.
White House officials describe the policy change as fulfilling a promise Trump made to Florida's Cuban exile community last fall.
For US-based companies such as Marriott-owned Starwood Hotels, Trump's policy could be the cancellation of the license to operate in Cuba.
Cuban-Americans have been anxiously awaiting President Donald Trump's announcement in Miami Friday of changes to USA policy toward Cuba, though it appears the changes will be more like a tweak of the Obama-era provisions. Republican Senator Marco Rubio, a key player in forging the new policy, was expected to attend along with other Cuban-American lawmakers.
The secretaries of commerce and treasury will be responsible for crafting and implementing the new regulations, so the changes won't come immediately.
Eliminating that category - in which individuals can travel to Cuba alone and not as part of an organized tour group, which has the "highest risk of potential abuse", an official said - still leaves 11 other categories under which Americans can visit Cuba legally.
"The new policy will empower the Cuban people", a senior White House official said.
These new policies reflect what President Trump promised as a candidate to the anti-Castro voters in Florida.
President Trump is basically following Cuban dissidents' lead, including those who supported Obama's opening to their country. The policy directive calls for an ironing out of the rules between the various government agencies within 90 days of its announcement, which will take places tomorrow at a Miami theater named after an iconic Cuban dissident.
