President Trump to Announce Tighter Rules for Cuba

President Trump to Announce Tighter Rules for Cuba
President Donald Trump waits for the arrival of Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc at the White House in Washington on May 31, 2017. REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque
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President Donald Trump will reverse parts of his predecessor’s detente with Cuba in an effort to keep money from flowing to Cuba’s sprawling military-controlled conglomerate, one of the primary beneficiaries of increased tourism in Cuba.

“The policy intent is to steer money away from the Cuban military and toward the Cuban people,” said a senior White House official on background.

The change comes as the Castro family consolidates its direct control over huge swaths of the economy, the kind of state-sponsored oligarchy seen in Russia, Vietnam, and China as they moved toward state-capitalism.

Trump’s revised policy will tighten rules on travel and investment in Cuba but leave much of former President Barack Obama’s policy unchanged. The changes fulfill, in part,campaign promises Trump made to Cubans in Florida who were essential to his win there.

Senior White House officials said the new policy, to be announced by the president in Miami later today, will empower Cuban people and target Cuba’s repressive military, intelligence, and security services establishment.

The change takes aim at loopholes left in the Obama administration’s policies.

“Many of the transactions were benefiting the Cuban military, which continues to repress the people. So the directive that this will enforce will allow business-to-business engagement but will make sure that those profits and flow of money are not going to benefit the Cuban military,” said a senior White House official.

Cuban President Raúl Castro spent five decades as Cuba’s defense minister, and made moves early in his rule to consolidate economic and commercial activity under the state.

President Barack Obama (R) shakes hands with Cuban Dictator Raul Castro (L) during the Summit of the Americas at the ATLAPA Convention Center, in Panama City, on April 11, 2015. (Mandel Ngan/AFP/Getty Images)
President Barack Obama (R) shakes hands with Cuban Dictator Raul Castro (L) during the Summit of the Americas at the ATLAPA Convention Center, in Panama City, on April 11, 2015. Mandel Ngan/AFP/Getty Images
Matthew Little
Matthew Little
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Matthew Little is a senior editor with Epoch Health.