Russia says Trump is using ‘Cold War rhetoric’ on Cuba

The move is seen as an attempt to roll back parts of Obama’s policy of normalizing U.S. -Cuba diplomatic ties, which was introduced in December 2014.

While Trump explained in a Miami speech that he was ending Obama’s “terrible and misguided deal” because of the Cuban government’s “repression” of its people, the Washington Post noted that Trump’s policy change could benefit, well, Trump – specifically, his hotel business. “The examples they set and the lessons they impart about hard work, dedication to family, faith in God, and believing in ourselves establish the moral foundation for success that allows us to live up to our full potential”, Trump said on Friday in a proclamation declaring June 18 as Father’s Day. The government remained willing to engage in “respectful dialogue”, it said in a statement.

He announced plans to restrict USA businesses and citizens from doing business with Cuban companies owned by the country’s military – amounting to vast swaths of the island nation’s economy, experts said – and to forbid American individuals from traveling to Cuba while also imposing additional restrictions on group tours.

President Donald Trump on Friday shifted from President Barack Obama’s policies with the communist country. In practice, however, many recent changes to boost ties to Cuba will stay as they are.

Trump’s new policy will eliminate such self-certified visits by individuals while still allowing them to be done as group tours, and also retaining some individual travel under other authorized categories such as religious, artistic and journalistic activities, officials said.

Online lodging booker Airbnb was allowed into Cuba, and commercial flights between the USA and Cuba resumed after more than half a century.

But Trump’s action fell well short of doing so. However, it will affect a large community of entrepreneurs – both in the USA and in Cuba – that had been at the forefront of establishing economic ties between the two nations, according to the Washington, D.C. -based group, Engage Cuba, a coalition of pro-Cuban business companies that includes P&G, Viacom, Honeywell and Choice Hotels. Nor are there plans to reinstate limits that Obama lifted on the amount of the island’s coveted rum and cigars that Americans can bring home for personal use.

However, President Trump is not rowing back on all parts of Obama’s deal. Before, the United States always voted against the U.N. resolution.

According to the Cuban Ministry, 74 percent more American citizens visited the island in 2016 than in 2015 and, following through on a pledge to Obama, Castro opened almost 400 new public Wi-Fi access points around Cuba.

“Any strategy to change the political, economic and social system in Cuba, whether through pressure. or through more subtle methods, will be doomed to failure”.

The Cuban government rebuked those statements in a lengthy response Friday, writing that Trump’s executive order betrays a double standard on human rights.

Obama and his aides argued that commerce and travel between the countries, which has blossomed since he relaxed the rules, would make his policy irreversible.

“This is the simple truth of the Castro regime”, Trump said. The Cuban government, which has made clear it will not be pressured into reforms, had no immediate comment.

“The growth of the private sector was linked to tourist demand which was growing in part due to the flow of United States tourists”, said Vidal.

Rubio appeared on Meet the Press, Face the Nation, State of the Union among others to discuss the speech, where he applauded tougher policies with countries with poor human right’s records such as Cuba. Washington had severed diplomatic relations with Cuba in 1961, two years after communist rebels led by Fidel Castro toppled the right-wing government of Fulgencio Batista.

Russian Federation said it was reaffirming its “unshakeable solidarity with Cuba”. Colorado has a tremendous amount to gain from the U.S. -Cuba relationship.

United States citizens will not be able to plan their own private trips to Cuba and their incorporation into educational excursions will be subject to strict rules and possible audits by the Treasury Department.