Not much new in Trump's Cuba policy

Miami's Cuban-American population, members of which will greet Trump on Friday in the Manuel Artime Theater, have a reputation for diehard anti-communism and an opposition to thawing ties.

At the venue where Trump announced his policy changes, the president received a warm welcome from audience members.

"When the Obama administration stopped condemning human rights violations in Cuba, the regime here said "look we can do this and nothing happens, so we can continue repressing more forcefully", said Jose Daniel Ferrer, who leads the Patriotic Union of Cuba, the country's largest dissident group.

President Donald Trump arrives at the White House in Washington, Friday, June 16, 2017, after speaking about Cuba policy in Miami.

Cubans said they were crestfallen to be returning to an era of frostier relations with the United States as the news spread that U.S. President Donald Trump was set to revert parts of the historic detente with Cuba, Reuters reported.

As a result, they were often presented with activities and talks favoring Cuba government positions on domestic and global issues.

During a speech Friday in Miami, Trump portrayed his updated policy as the fulfillment of a campaign promise to reverse Obama's diplomatic rapprochement with Cuba after decades of estrangement.

Diplomatic relations, restored only two years ago, will remain intact, but Trump says some penalties will stay in place until a long list of prerequisites is met.

"More or less it might mean the experience when you're there might be more regimented than some of the free flow people have had", said Ganje.

A presidential memorandum on the policy changes confirms the exemption of "air and sea operations that support permissible travel, cargo or trade".

Hundreds packed the rickety Manuel Artime Theater - from recently arrived dissidents fleeing Raul Castro's rule, to older veterans of failed Central Intelligence Agency covert operations and the new generation of Cuban-American US lawmakers.

Private entrepreneurs say Americans represent a disproportionate share of their revenue because they spend more than other travelers for high-end services that badly run state-operated business typically can not provide.

Yet new moves will burden the USA government with the complicated task of policing U.S.travel to Cuba to make sure there are no transactions with the military-linked conglomerate that runs much of the Cuban economy.

"Cuba denounces the new measures tightening the blockade, which are destined to fail", the government said in a communique carried on national television. Chesimard killed a New Jersey Police Officer, escaped from jail, and fled to Cuba, according to the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

Most U.S. travelers to Cuba will again be required to visit the island as part of organized tour groups run by American companies.

"On behalf of all the men and women of the New Jersey State Police, I am grateful for his recognition and deep concern that Cuba continues to harbor this country's most wanted cop killers and domestic terrorists", Fuentes said.

"I have trust in Trump to do the right thing when it comes to Cuba", said Jorge Saurez, 66, a retired physician in Little Havana.

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.

Obama announced in December 2014 that he and Castro were restoring ties.

Less than a year later, the U.S. Embassy in Havana re-opened. Obama's détente has already lifted exports and raised hopes for more gains, which they said were now in doubt.

"When he's cutting back on travel, he's hurting us, the Cuban entrepreneurs", said Camilo Diaz, a 44-year-old waiter in a restaurant in Havana.

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