Former President Barack Obama had adopted an appeasement policy towards Cuba, stated the Trump administration.
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How will the Cuban government respond? Still, Cuba said it is willing to continue “respectful dialogue” with on topics of mutual interest.
General diplomatic relations with Cuba would continue and embassies re-opened in Washington and Havana would remain. Cuban officials proudly say they have already withstood over 50 years of punishing United States sanctions. When Cuba’s former President Fidel Castro died, the Senator wasted no time in calling him an “evil, murderous dictator.” According to the publication, it probably means that USA travelers will not even be able to stay at a hotel in Old Havana or make use of any tourism service in Cuba.
In other words, there are no winners, only losers, if Trump moves away from engagement with Cuba.
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. The trips were made easier by the resumption of scheduled commercial air service from the USA for the first time in decades. This will essentially shield US airlines and cruise-ship companies now serving the island. Trump reportedly cited human-rights violations in Cuba as justification for a new USA approach; video continues to circulate on the Internet of a man, at a Havana May Day celebration, who is crushed and carried off by others as he runs with an American flag over his head as other revelers look on.
Nor are there plans to reinstate limits that Obama lifted on the amount of the island’s coveted rum and cigars that Americans can bring home for personal use.
If travel to Cuba is reduced, “You’d have a lot of people whose income would fall dramatically”, she said. Under the Trump administration’s future regulations, only educational groups will be able to facilitate these people-to-people interactions.
The changes won’t go into effect until new documents laying out details are issued.
Trump says in a speech in Miami that the US will not lift sanctions on Cuba until it releases all political prisoners and respects the Cuban people’s right to freedom of assembly and expression.
Administration officials said that the new policy would be reviewed if the Havana government carried out reforms.
Trump isn’t overturning Obama’s decision to end the “wet foot, dry foot” policy that allowed most Cuban migrants who made it onto USA soil to stay and eventually become legal permanent residents.
Yet it also exposed the shortcomings in Obama’s approach.
The group trips would require USA visitors to travel with a guide from an educational group-a requirement the Obama policy had lifted. Obama and his aides argued that commerce and travel between the countries, which has blossomed since he relaxed the rules, would make his policy irreversible. Trump’s policy would keep some of these changes in place, including direct flights to the country.
“We will not be silent in the face of communist oppression any longer”, Trump said.
“There are hundreds of thousands of Cuban women working in the private sector”, the letter read. Cuba’s government may not formally respond to Trump’s speech until a speech Monday by its foreign minister.
Further changes, the administration said, “will depend entirely on the Cuban government’s willingness to expand the Cuban people’s political freedom, respect their universal rights, and allow freedom of press as well as free and fair democratic elections”. There will also be no changes to the current Wet Feet-Dry Feet policy. U.S. Rep. Mario Diaz-Balart, and U.S. Sen.
Improvements in ties, in fact, “have been very slow and even disappointing, so to speak”, said Torrico.
On Friday, according to reports by Politico and the Miami Herald, President Donald Trump will announce during a speech in Miami that he will reinstate harsher travel restrictions on US citizens looking to travel to Cuba.
Worldwide human rights groups say, however, that reinstating a U.S. policy of isolating the island could make the situation worse by empowering Cuban hardliners.
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Obama announced in December 2014 that he and Castro were restoring ties.
