Trump signs memo toughening US policy towards Cuba

President Donald Trump signed a memorandum imposing a hard-line U.S. policy toward Cuba and reversing measures put in place by former President Joe Biden, the White House said.

The directive will enforce a statutory ban on U.S. tourism to Cuba while supporting an economic embargo of the country, the White House said in a fact sheet.

While Americans cannot visit Cuba for leisure, travel has been allowed for activities, including educational or humanitarian trips.

As one of his first acts after taking office in January, Trump, a harsh Cuba critic, revoked the Biden administration's last-minute decision to remove the country from the U.S. list of state sponsors of terrorism. He has also partially restricted the entry of people from Cuba.

Under Monday's memorandum, Trump renewed a ban on direct or indirect financial transactions with entities controlled by the Cuban military, such as Grupo de Administracion Empresarial S.A. (GAESA), and its affiliates, with exceptions for transactions that advance U.S. policy goals or support the Cuban people.

Biden had revoked a 2017 Trump order that restricted financial transactions with some military and government-linked Cuban entities.

The new memorandum "enforces the statutory ban on U.S. tourism to Cuba and ensures compliance through regular audits and mandatory record-keeping of all travel-related transactions for at least five years," the White House fact sheet said.

It also supports the economic embargo of Cuba and opposes calls in the United Nations and other international forums for its termination, the fact sheet said.

Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez posted on social media platform X that "the Presidential Memorandum against Cuba made public today by the U.S. government reinforces the aggression and economic blockade that punishes the entire Cuban people and is the main obstacle to our development."

"It is a criminal act and a violation of the human rights of an entire nation. The main obstacle to our development," he said.

Reuters