In a move that has been anticipated since he took office, the White House on Monday announced that President Obama will lift controversial travel and money restrictions imposed on Cuban-Americans and allow U.S. telecom firms to do business with the communist Castro dictatorship, changing what had been a long-standing U.S. government policy of growing isolation towards the island nation.
In a measured break with a half-century of U.S. policy toward communist Cuba, the Obama administration lifted restrictions Monday on Cuban-Americans who want to travel and send money to their island homeland.
In a further gesture of openness, U.S. telecommunications firms were freed to seek business there, too. But the broader U.S. trade embargo remained in place.
The White House portrayed its changes, which fulfilled one of President Barack Obama’s campaign promises, as a path to promoting personal freedom in one of the few remaining communist nations. They also marked another major step away from the foreign policy priorities of the Bush administration.
The White House portrayed the lifting of travel restrictions and money transfers to family members in Cuba — coupled with the telecommunications changes — as steps to bridge the gap among divided Cuban families.
“All who embrace core democratic values long for a Cuba that respects the basic human, political and economic rights of all of its citizens,” White House press secretary Robert Gibbs said in announcing the decision. “President Obama believes the measure he has taken today will help make that goal a reality.”
It had been known for more than a week that the White House would announce the Cuba changes in advance of Obama’s attendance this weekend at a Summit of the Americas in Trinidad and Tobago. Cuba is excluded from that gathering of 34 heads of government, but a number of participants are expected to use the session as an opportunity to press the U.S. to improve relations with Havana.
Cuban-American Republican Senator Mel Martinez gave an important early thumbs-up to Obama’s policy changes.
The announcement today is good news for Cuban families separated by the lack of freedom in Cuba. Likewise the change in remittances should provide help to families in need. Given these changes will benefit the regime in Havana, it would be wise in the implementation to place some reasonable limits on this type of travel and the amounts that can be sent to Cuba.
The president has expressed his commitment to freedom — libertad — for the Cuban people, and policy implementation should advance that objective. To this end, the administration is right to call on the Cuban government to end the onerous charge of 20 percent on remittances. Lowering remittance charges and allowing travel for Cuban families wishing to see relatives abroad are two steps the Cuban regime could immediately take that would show change in Havana.
While the changes are more symbolic than substantive, they represent that change in tone and direction from the administration of George W. bush that Obama pledge to swiftly accomplish while on the campaign trail last year. These are moves that we never would have even considered to be viable during the Bush era.
In what could be a more significant shift, the White House has suggested that the president will use a Latin American conference in Trinidad and Tobago that starts on Friday to discuss further liberalization of U.S./Cuban relations and policy. The administration has said they “won’t duck” the Cuba issue at a conference ostensibly on the global recession.
President Barack Obama plans to tell Latin American leaders later this week that the U.S. is willing to discuss how to improve relations with Havana, but wants Cuba to take steps toward democracy before it is reintegrated into the Western hemisphere’s economic and political institutions.
Cuba is likely to be at the forefront of discussions at the Summit of the Americas, a gathering of 34 heads of government that has always excluded Cuba, starting April 17 in Trinidad. Cuba’s main ally, Venezuela, as well as other countries, have said they want to use the summit to press for closer relations between Washington and Havana. Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez stopped in Havana on Friday to coordinate pre-summit strategy with Cuban President Raúl Castro and his ailing bother Fidel.
While the U.S. wants the meeting to focus on the global economic recession, Obama administration officials said the president is ready to engage on the Cuba issue if it’s brought up by other leaders. “We won’t duck it,” said an official. The president is likely to ask other summit-goers to press Cuba on issues of democracy, including the release of political prisoners.
The U.S. willingness to engage on Cuba is another indication of a slow, tentative warming of relations between Washington and Havana. The administration is planning soon to lift longstanding restrictions on Cuba, a move that would allow Cuban-Americans to visit families on the island as often as they like and send them unlimited funds.
The White House is also considering whether to remove restrictions that limit travel to Cuba by Americans for non-degree cultural and educational purposes, administration officials said, a category under which many thousands of tourists could qualify. Another possibility is restarting direct talks with Cuba on immigration issues.
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