Stopping short of a complete turnabout, President Donald Trump is expected to announce a revised Cuba policy aimed at stopping the flow of U.S. cash to the country’s military and security services while maintaining diplomatic relations and allowing U.S. airlines and cruise ships to continue service to the island.
In a speech on Friday at a Miami theatre associated with Cuban exiles, Mr. Trump will cast the policy moves as fulfilment of a promise he made during last year’s presidential campaign to reverse then-President Barack Obama’s diplomatic re-engagement with the island after decades of estrangement.
Senior White House officials who briefed reporters on Thursday on the coming announcement said Mr. Obama’s overtures had enriched Cuba’s military while repression increased on the island. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the policy before Mr. Trump announces it, despite the President’s regular criticism of the use of anonymous sources.
Just a partial reversal
The moves to be announced by Mr. Trump are only a partial reversal of Mr. Obama’s policies, however. And they will saddle the U.S. 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.
By restricting individual U.S. travel to Cuba, the new policy also risks cutting off a major source of income for the island’s private business sector, which the policy is meant to support.
Under the expected changes, the U.S. 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.
To be organized tours
Most U.S. travellers to Cuba will again be required to visit the island as part of organized tour groups run by American companies. The rules also require a day-long schedule of activities designed to expose the travellers to ordinary Cubans. But because Cuban rules require tour groups to have government guides and use state-run tour buses, the requirement has given the Cuban government near-total control of travellers’ itineraries and funnelled much of their spending to state enterprises.
Mr. Obama eliminated the tour requirement, allowing tens of thousands of Americans to book solo trips and spend their money with individual bed-and-breakfast owners, restaurants and taxi drivers.
The U.S. Embassy in Havana, which reopened in August 2015, will remain as a full-fledged diplomatic outpost.
‘Wet foot, dry foot’ to go?
Mr. Trump isn’t overturning Mr. Obama’s decision to end the “wet foot, dry foot” policy that allowed most Cuban migrants who made it onto U.S. soil to stay and eventually become legal permanent residents.
Also not expected are any changes to U.S. regulations governing what items Americans can bring back from Cuba, including the rum and cigars produced by state-run enterprises.
More details about the changes are expected to be released on Friday, when the new policy is set to take effect. But none of the changes will become effective until the Treasury Department issues new regulations, which could take months. That means that any U.S. traveller currently booked on a flight to Cuba in the next few weeks, or even months, could go ahead and make the trip.
Critics said the changes would only hurt everyday Cubans who work in the private sector and depend on American visitors to help provide for their families. Supporters expressed appreciation for Mr. Trump’s emphasis on human rights in Cuba.
