The U.S.is set to announce further measures on March 17 to relax its travel and commercial controls on Cuba, before President Barack Obama’s historic visit to the Caribbean island later in the month, U.S. congressional sources said on Tuesday.
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The measures are expected to include changes to make it easier for individual Americans to visit Cuba if they qualify under 12 authorized categories of travel such as educational or cultural visits, as well as further loosening of trade and banking rules, said the sources, who were briefed on the matter by administration officials.
The March 20-22 visit from Obama comes 15 months after he and Cuban President Raul Castro agreed to end more than five decades of Cold War-era animosity and try to normalize relations.
The White House has said previously it did not expect a Fidel Castro meeting to occur but did not say it was ruled out. This result comes after an agreement between US Secretary of Transportation Anthony Foxx and Cuban Minister of Transport Adel Rodriguez, who both seem optimistic about the move.
Cuban dissidents in the past have reported being detained in their homes or picked up by police en route to major global events such as summits or papal visits, but Rhodes said he did not anticipate that happening for Obama’s trip.
They have restored diplomatic ties, and Obama has relaxed a series of trade sanctions and travel restrictions, leading Republican opponents and even some of the president’s fellow Democrats to question whether Washington was offering too much without any reciprocation from Havana.
Analysts said establishing U.S.-Cuban business relationships would make it hard for the next U.S. president to roll back Obama’s policy changes after he leaves office next January, if a Republican opponent of the policy wins the election.
Sabatini thinks that if this happens, the US president would “look like a dupe”, not to mention the massive indictment it can present to his foreign policy. I’ve always said that change won’t come to Cuba overnight.
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In a bid to fend off such criticism, the White House has announced Obama will meet with anti-regime dissidents in Havana, although it has not given any details beyond insisting that the Cuban government will not be allowed to hand-pick them. US regulations restrict or prohibit the Cuban government from using the dollar for global transactions.
