The sweeping shift comes ahead of an historic three-day trip to Cuba that President Barack Obama will begin on Sunday. Restrictions on those activities had crippled Cuba’s ability to trade with third countries and became a major hindrance to the USA attempt to normalize relations with Cuba.
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Traveling with first lady Michelle Obama and their daughters Sasha and Malia, the president on Monday will start his trip with a walking tour of Old Havana, where they’ll see historic buildings that make up the city’s core.
“In our diligence to make sure people were doing people-to-people, we allowed them to fall into the trap of the Cuban propaganda machine”, Caulfield said in an interview.
John Kavulich, a senior policy adviser at the U.S. Trade and Economic Council, said, “This change in travel was all driven by the airlines, because airlines need to fill seats if they have regularly scheduled service”.
Several lawyers involved in helping companies to explore deals with the Cuban government said Cuban officials raised the prohibition on US dollars in most meetings with USA executives and administration officials. “The message to most Americans that the travel restrictions are really loosening will come across more clearly”.
U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack said Tuesday that farm officials want to lay the groundwork so American agricultural exporters can seize new opportunities in Cuba if the trade embargo on the country is lifted. “This speech will be a very important moment in the president’s trip … an opportunity for him to describe the course that we are on, to review the complex history between our countries and the rationale behind the steps we took”, Rhodes said, calling it “a huge moment in the history between our countries, the first visit of a U.S. president in almost 90 years, certainly the first speech given by a president in Cuba in almost 90 years”. It also allows US banks to process dollars “presented indirectly by Cuban financial institutions”.
Yet the USA trade embargo that Congress enacted after Cuba’s 1959 revolution remains in place. At a church there, Obama will meet with Cardinal Jaime Ortega, who helped facilitate the months-long, secret negotiations that led to the USA and Cuba agreeing to re-establish diplomatic relations. Major League Baseball is in talks with the Cuban government to let Cuban players sign directly with its teams. The Starwood hotel chain says it soon expects to get USA approval to manage hotels in the country.
The U.S. eliminated a ban on Cuban access to the global banking system.
-Hiring – U.S. companies can hire Cuban nationals, in a non-immigrant status, to work or perform in the United States provided that no additional payments are made to the Cuban government related to their sponsorship or hiring.
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“We have enormous confidence in the American people as ambassadors for the things that we care about”, said Rhodes.
