WASHINGTON — In a shot at one of Barack Obama’s signature policies, President Trump on Friday will announce steps designed to restrict U.S. travel to Cuba and curb the flow of American cash to entities connected to the island’s military, according to White House aides.
But
Trump will leave the bulk of his predecessor’s approach untouched,
including the establishment of formal diplomatic relations and Cuba’s
removal from the U.S. list of state sponsors of terrorism. Obama’s
decision to end preferential treatment for undocumented Cubans who reach
U.S. shores will also survive.
And
the new financial restrictions envision carve-outs that will largely
spare existing business dealings, including those in agriculture,
telecommunications, airlines and cruise lines, and potentially hotels.
Cuban-Americans will still be able to send money to relatives. And
Americans returning from authorized travel to Cuba will still be able to
bring back $100 in rum and cigars.
Three
Trump aides described the new policy to reporters in the briefing room
of the White House in a question-and-answer session held on condition
that they not be named.
The
most significant shift appears to be a return to tougher enforcement of
travel restrictions for individuals and groups. While tourism has been
illegal under a decades-old U.S. embargo imposed after the 1959
revolution that swept Fidel Castro to power, the Obama administration
largely looked the other way, permitting individuals and groups to visit
the island if they fell into one of 12 categories. Enforcement was largely on an honor system.
The
Trump administration will end “people-to-people” visits for individuals
who claim to be visiting the island to engage Cubans or for
“educational activities.” Groups will still be able to go, but will be
subject to far greater scrutiny to ensure that they fulfilled the
requirements for authorized travel, the aides told reporters. The
overall effect will likely be to “chill” American travel, one aide told
Yahoo News.
This
approach, which the president will announce in Miami, is meant to
fulfill promises Trump made on the campaign trail in 2016, and to
accommodate lawmakers such as Sen. Marco Rubio, who favor taking a
harder line on the government in Havana.
“Economic practices that benefit the Cuban military at the expense of the Cuban people will soon be coming to an end #BetterDealforCuba,” Rubio said on Twitter.
Trump
is set to unveil the policy at a theater named for a veteran of the
disastrous 1961 CIA-backed Bay of Pigs Invasion aimed at overthrowing
Fidel Castro. He will cast the new approach as striking a blow against
Cuban government repression of political dissent, which has risen since
Obama announced his historic opening to the former Cold War foe in
December 2014. Trump aides note that Obama’s approach has thus far
failed to yield dividends in terms of greater political freedom. Obama
aides argue that decades of trying to isolate Cuba failed as well, and
that the new approach deserves more time.
Exactly how the new policy will play out in regulations affecting both economic and human rights issues remains to be seen.
Trump’s
directive will order key agencies including the Departments of State,
Treasury and Commerce to craft regulations to limit American financial
dealings with entities connected to Cuba’s military, which by some
estimates controls 80 percent of the island’s economy. That includes
most of the tourism sector on which Havana relies to generate
much-needed foreign currency. But the aides said airlines would still be
able to pay landing fees and cruise ships would still be allowed to pay
docking fees.
And,
the aides said, the regulation-crafting process could also include
exemptions for U.S. hotel chains to make deals in which they would
operate (but not own) facilities controlled by a Cuban military-backed
entity known as Gaviota. That could have the effect of prohibiting
Americans from staying at hotels operated by foreign firms.
In
his speech, Trump will defend the U.S. embargo, press the Cuban
government to release political prisoners and move towards free and fair
elections, the aides said. He will also reiterate Washington’s demand
that Havana turn over American fugitives from justice. There are several
known to be living in Cuba, including Joanne Chesimard, who fled there in 1984 after escaping a life sentence for the murder of a New Jersey state trooper.
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