Trump administration imposes new travel restrictions on Cuba

Cuba is on the Trump administration hit list —again. On Tuesday (June 4) the Trump administration imposed new travel restrictions on visits to Cuba by U.S. citizens. In what some refer to as punishment for the Cuban support of the Nicolas Maduro government in Venezuela, the U.S. government moved to penalize the Cubans by imposing new sanctions, including prohibiting cruises to the island.

A release issued by the U.S. Department of the Treasury stated:

Today, the Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) unveiled amendments to the Cuban Assets Control Regulations (CACR) to further implement the President’s foreign policy on Cuba.  These amendments complement changes to the Department of Commerce’s Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) Export Administration Regulations (EAR), which Commerce is also unveiling today.  These regulatory changes were announced on April 17, 2019 and include restrictions on non-family travel to Cuba.

“Cuba continues to play a destabilizing role in the Western Hemisphere, providing a communist foothold in the region and propping up U.S. adversaries in places like Venezuela and Nicaragua by fomenting instability, undermining the rule of law, and suppressing democratic processes,” said Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin.  “This Administration has made a strategic decision to reverse the loosening of sanctions and other restrictions on the Cuban regime.  These actions will help to keep U.S. dollars out of the hands of Cuban military, intelligence, and security services.”

These actions mark a continued commitment towards implementing the National Security Presidential Memorandum signed by the President on June 16, 2017 titled “Strengthening the Policy of the United States Toward Cuba.”  These policies continue to work to channel economic activities away from the Cuban military, intelligence, and security services.  The Treasury changes will take effect on June 5, 2019 when the regulations are published in the Federal Register.

For the Treasury regulations, which can be found at 31 Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) part 515, see here.  For the Commerce regulations, which can be found at 15 CFR parts 730-774, see here.  Major elements of the changes in the revised regulations include:

Ending Group People-to-People Travel

• In accordance with the newly announced changes to non-family travel to Cuba, OFAC is amending the regulations to remove the authorization for group people-to-people educational travel.  OFAC’s regulatory changes include a “grandfathering” provision, which provides that certain group people-to-people educational travel that previously was authorized will continue to be authorized where the traveler had already completed at least one travel-related transaction (such as purchasing a flight or reserving accommodation) prior to June 5, 2019. Please note that travel-related transactions continue to be permitted by general licenses for certain categories of travel and certain authorized export transactions.  For more on authorized travel to Cuba, please click here.

Ending Exports of Passenger Vessels, Recreational Vessels, and Private Aircraft 

• BIS, in coordination with OFAC, is amending the EAR to make passenger and recreational vessels and private and corporate aircraft ineligible for a license exception and to establish a general policy of denial for license applications involving those vessels and aircraft.