The Trump administration announced Wednesday that the U.S. will tighten restrictions on travel to Cuba, allowing only family visits to the island.
“The Department of the Treasury will implement further regulatory changes to restrict non-family travel to Cuba,” national-security adviser John Bolton said Wednesday in a speech to a group of Bay of Pigs veterans on the 58th anniversary of the failed, CIA-directed attempt to overthrow Cuban dictator Fidel Castro.
Bolton also announced that money sent to family members in Cuba would now be limited to $1,000 per person every three months, a change from the Obama administration policy that allowed unlimited remittances.
“In no uncertain terms, the Obama administration’s policies toward Cuba have enabled the Cuban colonization of Venezuela today,” Bolton said. “These new measures will help steer Americans dollars away from the Cuban regime.”
The rules changes comes just after Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announced earlier Wednesday that American citizens will now be allowed to sue foreign businesses trafficking in property confiscated by the Cuban government during Castro’s 1959 revolution.
“The Cuban regime has for years exported its oppression to Venezuela. Cuban military, intelligence, and security services keep [Venezuelan president Nicolás] Maduro in power. This behavior undermines the stability of countries in the Western Hemisphere, and poses a direct threat to U.S. national security,” Pompeo said.
“The walls are closing in” on Maduro, Bolton said Wednesday. “There is no turning back. The people will prevail. And when they do, we know that Cuba will be next.”
“Together, we can finish what began on those beaches, on those famous days in April, 58 years ago today,” he added.