President Trump to bring back harsher restrictions on travel to Cuba

The Trump administration has been Gung-Ho about rolling back every single one of former President Obama's policies to the joy of Republicans who obstructed the former commander-in-chief through both of his terms.

President Donald Trump declared Friday he was restoring some travel and economic restrictions on Cuba that were lifted as part of the Obama administration's historic easing. Miami is home to the largest Cuban-American community.

The Castro government is certain to reject Trump's list of demands, which includes releasing political prisoners, halting what the US says is abuse of dissidents and greater freedom of expression.

His secretary of state, Rex Tillerson, said in the Senate this week that the Trump administration believes that more pressure must be put on the Cuban government to make progress on human rights, since Obama's policy has had no results in that area. "They are rejected officially today - rejected". He clamped down on some commerce and travel but left intact many new avenues President Barack Obama had opened.

What followed over the next two years was the most significant change in US-Cuban relations since the 1959 revolution.

Selling Cuban cigars, importing Cuban cigars and having Cuban cigars shipped to America remain illegal. The policy will not directly talk about flights and cruises.

Trump's new policy will eliminate such visits by individuals while still allowing them to be done as group tours, and also retaining individual travel under other authorized categories such as religious, artistic and journalistic activities, the official said. Remittances to Cuba won't be cut off.

Improvements in ties, in fact, "have been very slow and even disappointing, so to speak", said Torrico.

According to media reports, Trump is set to announce in Miami on Friday a rollback to the thaw between Washington and Havana, a promise he made during his election campaign a year ago. The new president's action is broadly opposed by American business groups.

Senator Marco Rubio says he will be with President Trump in Miami Friday when he rolls out the administration's new Cuba policy.

In a contentious internal debate, some aides argued that Trump, a former real estate magnate who won the presidency promising to unleash USA business and create jobs, would have a hard time defending any moves that close off the Cuban market.

In Cuba, Granma, the official organ of the nation's Communist Party, covered Friday's speech in a real-time blog, saying "Trump's declarations are a return to imperialist rhetoric and unilateral demands, sending relations between Havana and Washington back into the freezer". According to island authorities, in 2016 the number of USA visitors increased by 74 percent compared to 2015.

"You went out and you voted, and here I am, like I promised".

Though they do not go as far as some feared, the Trump policy changes laid out in the Miami Herald and Politico on Thursday take a harsher stance than the relative rapprochement in recent years and could dramatically affect US business on the island.