The US government is planning to further ease restrictions on Americans travelling to Cuba. Officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the announcement could be made as early as next week but no final decision has been made yet.
The government last year relaxed a travel ban to allow Cuban-Americans with relatives on the island to make visits. The new move would open the way for “people-to-people” diplomacy by making it easier for students, academics, religious organizations, cultural groups, sports teams and others to make visits.
Americans seeking to travel to Cuba at present face tough penalties, with the Treasury Department prosecuting anyone spending dollars in Cuba, which effectively amounts to a travel ban. Special permission is required to make a trip.
The White House yesterday declined to confirm or deny the news.
“We will continue to pursue policies that advance the US national interest and support the Cuban people’s desire to freely determine their country’s future,” Mike Hammer, a national security council spokesman, said.
The environment for rapprochement has been helped by the Cuban government’s decision to release political prisoners. Three more Cuban dissidents arrived in Madrid on Tuesday after being released.
Spanish Foreign Minister Miguel Angel Moratinos predicted last month that the release of all political prisoners would lead to the eventual lifting of the US embargo on Cuba.
Links with Cuba have long been held up because of vociferous lobbying by Cuban exiles in and around Miami, but there is less hostility on the part of the younger generation of Cuban exiles.
Anya Landau French, director of the US-Cuba policy initiative at the New America Foundation think tank, believes the changes are imminent and favors a lifting of the travel ban.
“It’s hard to judge how positive a change this signals until we have a chance to see its scope. If it’s narrow, that shows that this administration is still playing it too safe on Cuba, a low-risk, low-hanging fruit in foreign policy terms,” Landau French said.
She hopes that the changes will be broader.
The changes could see people such as academic researchers, at present only allowed short visits, being allowed to stay on the island for two years. More flights — at present restricted to Los Angeles, New York and Miami — are also envisaged.
US President Barack Obama can make changes to the categories allowed to travel but a total lifting of the ban can only be done by Congress.
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