US President Donald Trump has signed a memorandum which will impose tighter restrictions on Cuba.
The move is aimed at reversing some of the measures introduced by the Biden administration which eased US pressure on the Communist-run country.
The White House said it would enforce an existing ban on American tourists going to Cuba more stringently, and oppose calls by international organizations such as the UN to end the US economic embargo on the Caribbean nation.
Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodríguez said the memorandum “strengthens the aggression & economic blockade that punishes the whole Cuban people and is the main obstacle to our development”.
In a fact sheet published on its website, the White House said it would end “economic practices that disproportionately benefit the Cuban government, military, intelligence, or security agencies at the expense of the Cuban people”.
US citizens are already banned from travelling to Cuba solely for tourism activities but there are 12 categories of travel which are permitted, including family and educational visits, humanitarian projects and sports competitions.
The new memorandum says compliance with the existing policy will be enforced through regular audits and “mandatory record-keeping of all travel-related transactions for at least five years”.
It also prohibits US citizens from doing business with GAESA, a conglomerate run by the Cuban military which owns many of Cuba’s hotels.
Tourism is one of the main sources of hard currency for the Cuban government, but numbers of visitors have dwindled as shortages on the Caribbean Island have become more severe and several nationwide power cuts plunged it into the dark.
The memorandum stresses that President Trump “is committed to fostering a free and democratic Cuba, addressing the Cuban people’s long-standing suffering under a Communist regime”.
The policies listed in the document build on measures Trump has implemented in his first term in office and also in recent months.
Shortly after being sworn in to a second term, Trump reinstated Cuba’s designation as a state sponsor of terrorism, which had been lifted just days before by the then-president, Joe Biden.
Trump and his iron-fist policy towards Cuba had strong backing from the Cuban American community in the US.
However, the Trump administration’s decision to end Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for Cubans – as well as Haitians, Nicaraguans and Venezuelans – was met with widespread disappointed by many Cuban Americans. (https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cx24468drd1o)
