Trump set to row back on Cuban travel and trade

MIAMI | In an overhaul of one of his predecessor's signature legacies, President Donald Trump will redraw US policy toward Cuba on Friday, tightening travel restrictions for Americans that had been loosened under President Barack Obama and banning USA business transactions with Cuba's vast military conglomerate.

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

Trump is scheduled announce the new Cuba policies at 1 p.m at the Manuel Artime Theater in Little Havana.

"I am appalled and saddened by the reports that President Trump will reinstate failed isolationist Cuba policies".

Though the move is certainly a move away from Barack Obama's 2015 rapprochement with Havana, it is not a reversal.

The new approach aims to tighten several of the travel and commercial policies that President Obama loosened over the last two years with the goal of curbing the flow of USA cash to the Cuban government, especially its military.

Taking a tougher approach against Cuba after promising to do so during the presidential campaign, Trump will make clear that a ban on US tourism to Cuba remains in effect and his administration will beef up enforcement of travel rules under authorized categories, the officials said.

Critics say the threat of a Treasury audit could have a chilling effect on travel and hurt business for the private-run bed and breakfasts and restaurants Americans often frequent. The reason: those were the visits most ripe for abuse by yanquis hoping to circumvent the law that prohibits US tourist travel to Cuba. The rules also require a daylong schedule of activities created to expose the travelers to ordinary Cubans. The Trump administration will argue that these businesses fund the oligarchy that runs the Cuban government.

Saying that the aim was to fix what Trump has called a "bad deal" struck by Obama with Havana, one United States official said the new administration would leave the door open to improved relations if Cuba undertakes democratic reforms such as allowing free and fair elections and the release of political prisoners.

The new policies will prohibit doing business with institutions controlled by Cuban military or intelligence and will end the "people to people" travel program, which the Obama administration laxly enforced and essentially allowed tourism.

Detailing a new National Security Presidential Memorandum, Trump is also expected to announce stricter enforcement of rules under which Americans can travel to Cuba.

Even family visits in Cuba from US relatives could be in jeopardy.

Trump accused Cuba of "cruel despotism" in May, vowing to support its people's hopes for democracy, which raised ironic cheers from rights supporters more used to his cozying up to Saudi Arabia, Turkey and other autocratic states.

According to the Presidential Memorandum that will be announced on Friday-but has already been leaked to Reuters, among other news outlets-the us will not be entirely cutting itself off from Cuba once again, but will be tightening restrictions in keeping with campaign promises Trump made both to voters and to power brokers in the Republican party. Less than a year later, the U.S. Embassy in Havana re-opened.

Those changes loosened a tight embargo that had been imposed on the Communist island decades ago. Trump's policy would keep some of these changes in place, including direct flights to the country. Only the U.S. Congress can lift the embargo, and lawmakers, especially those of Cuban heritage, like Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.).

Officials briefing journalists about the new policy were asked why human rights concerns had led to punitive measures in Cuba's case but were not playing a role in the administration's policy to other notable human rights offenders, like the Philippines and Saudi Arabia.

"We also very much want to see that kind of expansion of commercial interaction with Cuba", the official said.

"The oppressors of the Cuban people are the Cuban government who have increased repression on the island against dissidents ... since reestablishing diplomatic relations".

In a statement ahead of Trump's announcement, Marriott CEO Arne Sorenson defended the firm's decision to invest in Cuba.

"For the first time, a president is coming to Miami to talk about the Cuban issue", said Humberto Diaz Arguelles, president of the Bay of Pigs Veterans Association.

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