The White House’s new Cuba policy directs the Treasury Department to end a common method of visiting the communist nation.
The new measures will end individual people-to-people travel, according to a document released ahead of President Donald Trump’s remarks in Miami.
Tourism is technically banned under the embargo, but under the Obama administration, relaxed regulations allowed Americans to visit Cuba under people-to-people travel. Trump’s policy restricts this form of travel to Cuba for individuals. Americans pursuing this type of travel would have to go in groups, the official said.
The document, published by the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control, emphasizes that the changes announced Friday will not take effect until new regulations are issued.
Rep. Mario Diaz-Balart, R-Fl., lauded the changes, saying that the president has fulfilled a campaign promise, which Trump made in Miami in 2016.
“U.S. policy will ensure that the Cuban military — which oppresses the Cuban people and it beats the Cuban people through its thugs and imprisons political activists and spies on its neighbors — they can no longer benefit from increased trade and travel,” said Diaz-Balart.
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