The U.S. Just Made it Tougher for Americans to Visit Cuba
Fortune
By Reuters
November 8, 2017
The U.S. government made it tougher on Wednesday for Americans to visit Cuba and do business in the country, making good on a pledge by President Donald Trump to roll back his Democratic predecessor’s move toward warmer ties with Havana.
The restrictions, which take effect on Thursday, are aimed at preventing the military, intelligence and security arms of Cuba‘s Communist government from benefiting from American tourists and trade, the White House said.
They fill in the regulatory detail on a Trump policy speech in June, in which the Republican president called for a tightening of restrictions. He said then that the Cuban government continued to oppress its people and former President Barack Obama had made too many concessions in his 2014 diplomatic breakthrough with Washington’s former Cold War foe.
The regulations include a ban on Americans doing business with some 180 Cuban government entities, holding companies, and tourism companies. The list includes 83 state-owned hotels, including famous hotels in Old Havana such as Ernest Hemingway’s erstwhile favorite haunt the Hotel Ambos Mundos, as well as the city’s new luxury shopping mall.
“All these measures hurt the Cuban people,” said Cuba‘s Foreign Ministry chief for U.S. Affairs Josefina Vidal. She said that government revenue funds Cuba‘s free education and healthcare systems.
Speaking to reporters in Havana, she called the list “arbitrary” and the regulations a further “setback” in U.S.-Cuban relations.
The new rules were criticized as too lax by Republican leaders who favor a hard line, but as counterproductive by those who agreed with Obama’s rationale for the detente: that Washington’s many decades of isolating the Caribbean island failed to force change.
The Cuban hotels listed included those run by military-linked chains Gaviota and Habaguanex. Republican Senator Marco Rubio of Florida, a Cuban-American, said the list failed to go far enough because it omitted companies like Gran Caribe Hotel Group and Cubanacan that have ties to the Cuban government.
Democratic Senator Patrick Leahy said the regulations were unfair to Cuba, coming as Trump was being “feted in Beijing” by a Communist government “in a country to which Americans cantravel freely.”
“The hypocrisy of the White House ideologues is glaring,” Leahy said in a statement.
The Confusing New Cuba Travel Restrictions, Explained
Conde Nast Traveler
By Laura Dannen Redman
November 9, 2017
The Trump administration has placed new restrictions on American travel and trade to the island nation. But what does it actually mean?
Yes, you can still visit Cuba. Despite tight new travel and trade restrictions announced by the federal government yesterday—making good on President Trump's pledge to freeze the thaw between America and Cuba that started during the Obama administration in January 2015—the island nation isn't entirely off limits.
To start: If you have a flight booked or a trip planned, you don't have to cancel your trip. "Administration officials said the new regulations, which will take effect Thursday, would not affect certain existing transactions," reports The Washington Post. "For visitors, that means anyone who has 'completed at least one travel-related transaction (such as purchasing a flight or reserving accommodations) prior to' publication of the new regulations in the Federal Register on Thursday."
One big thing to keep in mind: There are still categories of authorized travel to Cuba, and you have to fall under one of those categories to visit. The solo/individual trips you've been able to take the past year—where you book a flight on your own, get a visa, and go with a loose interpretation of the "support of the Cuban people" category—isn't quite kosher anymore. You have to prove that you “engaged in a full-time schedule” of interactions with Cubans and activities that support civil society. Tour groups take care of this for you with full-day itineraries of people-to-people and cultural exchanges; if you're on your own and asked about it at U.S. customs on your way home, you'd have to show that you had meaningful interactions. It's tricky.
Travelers are also panicking a bit about the long (long) list of Cuban businesses Americans have been barred from doing business with when they visit—it includes state-run hotels across Havana, tourist agencies, and stores that the U.S. State Department says don't support "private enterprise in Cuba." But there's a very good chance that if you take a trip to Cuba with a tour group, you won't frequent many, if any, of the places on the banned list. My trip to Havana with InsightCuba included several nights at Hotel MeliáCohiba, a Spanish chain; lunch at Starbien and Paladar Los Mercaderes; a cigar rolling lesson at El Figaro; a private jazz show at La Zorra y El Cuervo; and a walk-through of the famed Hotel Nacional, in addition to several people-to-people exchanges with artists and musicians. None of this is restricted. Most of what's barred is owned or operated by CompañíaHabaguanex or Gaviota Tourism, two major Cuban hospitality groups.
In truth, much of the Cuban economy is still dominated by companies run by (or benefiting) the government, though the number of private businesses is on the rise. As previously reported by Traveler's Paul Brady, Airbnb rentals are mostly "casas particulares, "an existing form of legal lodging in Cuba that lets travelers stay in private homes." And the paladars where you will likely eat lunch or dinner are often family-owned restaurants.
“Americans can rest assured that it’s still completely legal to visit Cuba," Cuba Educational Travel President Collin Laverty said yesterday in an email statement. "Commercial flights, cruise ships, Marriott hotels, Airbnb, and top-notch tour providers continue to operate business as usual, and it takes just minutes to secure your legal trip to the island. U.S. companies will continue to pursue deals that comply with the new regulations, benefiting business owners, workers and consumers in both countries.”