U.S. President Barack Obama is welcome to visit Cuba but not to meddle in its internal affairs, a senior foreign ministry official said on Wednesday on the eve of the first anniversary of the two countries’ historic rapprochement.
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Kass said he expects the US government will allow airlines to apply for 20 daily flights to Havana and then 10 daily flights at each of the other Cuban global airports. Proper visas will still be required.
“Over the next year, we will continue on this path, empowering Cubans and Americans to lead the way”, he said.
That will make travel for Australians to Cuba a lot easier.
American has offered charters to Cuba since 1991 and will have operated approximately 1200 such flights by the end of this year; it now has flights from Miami, Tampa and Los Angeles to the Cuban cities of Camaguey, Cienfuegos, Havana, Holguin and Santa Clara.
The Fort Worth-based carriers comment came one day after the USA government reached an agreement with Cuba to reopen commercial flights to that island nation.
The charter flights will continue under the new agreement and scheduled flights for non-tourist purposes will begin, according to the United States statement.
It is not known when the first Cuba-bound flights will take off.
The renewal of air travel is the latest step in the thawing relationship between the two countries which persisted even after the Cold War ended.
The State Department shared the news in a statement Thursday.
In the USA, banks afraid of running afoul of the embargo have been blocking legal Cuba-related transactions at rates equal to or higher than before Obama’s announcement. He was the top US diplomat in Cuba for three years, “Everything from my perspective has either been the same or gotten worse”. But Americans interested in traveling to Cuba for a pleasant, island getaway will still need to meet one of 12 criteria, such as being Cuban-American or partaking in educational tours or journalistic activity, according to Reuters.
As for the power of people-to-people engagement, Quintana says she doubts it can have much impact in the case of Cuba, where she says a fearful government does its best to limit contact between average Cubans and visiting Americans.
The U.S. and Cuba have launched a host of bilateral dialogues, including on property claims, direct mail service, civil aviation, environmental cooperation, counternarcotics, law enforcement, human rights and telecommunications.
JetBlue said it will “review the terms of the agreement” to see the number of flight frequencies available and figure out how it can expand to regularly scheduled service to Cuba, Laurence said.
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United States music promoters have been jostling to hold the first major USA pop concert in Havana early next year and baseball stars, including Cuban-born defectors Yasiel Puig and Jose Abreu, were welcomed in Cuba last week during a trip to pave the way for training games there next year.
