Trump imposes tougher US policy toward Cuba, enforces ban on US tourism
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.
More: Top Cuban official accuses Trump admin of escalating tensions, raises concerns of conflict
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 US 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.
(Reporting By Steve Holland; additional reporting by Marc Frank in Havana; Editing by Franklin Paul and Chris Reese)
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Miami Herald
33 minutes ago
- Miami Herald
Why Tesla needs to fire Elon Musk: It's business, not politics
President Donald Trump and the Republican part have ignored climate change and demonized electric vehicles (EV). The president's so-called "Big Beautiful Bill" phases out the tax credit for buying an EV with it disappearing in September. He has also repeatedly called out EVS as being unreliable and "not going very far." Before he became buddies with Tesla CEO Elon Musk, he ridiculed him and his businesses. Related: Costco has a massive labor problem nobody is talking about When Elon Musk came to the White House asking me for help on all of his many subsidized projects, whether it's electric cars that don't drive long enough, driverless cars that crash, or rocketships to nowhere, without which subsidies he'd be worthless, and telling me how he was a big Trump fan and Republican, I could have said, 'drop to your knees and beg,' and he would have done it," Trump wrote on social media. Musk, however, became a Trump advisor when he donated nearly $300 million to his election campaign. That got him appointed to lead the childishly-named Department of Government Efficiency where he gleefully harassed long-time federal workers and eliminated programs that wasted money doing things like feeding hungry people. Don't miss the move: Subscribe to TheStreet's free daily newsletter It was a hard-right turn for Musk, which was and odd choice given who the buyers fro EVs. are Democrats: "On every dimension, Democrats view EVs more favorably than Republicans do," shared Pew Research. Image source: Bocsi/Bloomberg via Getty Images While many CEOs lean right, or openly embrace right-wing ideology, but it's common to step down from any leadership positions before joining the government. Woody Johnson, the owner of the New York Jets, for example, served in the first Trump administration and stepped down from his position running the team. New York is overly liberal, but Johnson separated his two live. Musk did not do that and that's a problem because the Pew data suggests that Republicans are not a real market for EVs. Environmental benefits: Democrats and those who lean to the Democratic Party are much more likely than Republicans and GOP leaners to say EVs are better for the environment than gas vehicles (69% vs. 24%).Cost to buy: A majority of both Democrats and Republicans say EVs cost more to buy than gas vehicles. But fewer Democrats than Republicans say this (65% vs. 81%).Cost to charge/fuel: Half of Democrats say EVs cost less to charge than gas vehicles do to fuel. That compares with a quarter of Very few Democrats or Republicans think EVs are more reliable than gas vehicles, but Democrats are more likely than Republicans to say this (14% vs. 5%). Half of Democrats say EVs and gas vehicles are about the same on reliability, while 34% say EVs are less reliable. Republicans are even more negative, with 69% saying EVs are less reliable. Musk's hard-right turn and eventual return to the middle, has had major consequences on Tesla. When a CEO does something that overshadows the brand, they get fired. Both Best Buy and McDonald's removed successful CEOs over inappropriate, but not illegal, relationships. Musk has done something far worse, He has made it so Tesla's (TSLA) core audience, liberals, sees the Tesla name as a sort of swear word. That has led to many existing owners adding a "I bought this before Elon went crazy" bumper sticker and new liberal customers staying away. Tesla sales dropped 13.5% in the second quarter, after also dropping in the first quarter. The company faces the Musk backlash, and concerns over its aging vehicle lineup. Musk has not hurt Tesla irreparably, but his presence makes it harder to fix the problem. About half of U.S. adults have an unfavorable opinion of Tesla, including 30% of Republicans, according to a June AP-NORC poll. Related: As shoppers ditch Shein and Temu, these stores are winning "Musk has acknowledged that his work as head of the Department of Government Efficiency and his embrace of European far-right candidates have hurt the company. But he said earlier this year that much of the sales plunge is due to customers holding off while they waited for an ugrade to Tesla's best selling Model Y. That new version has been out for months now," reported. Take Musk off the top off the masthead, and liberals can go back to saluting the brand for its social responsibility, but leave him there, and your target audience simply won't buy. That's not a political decision. It's just business. The Arena Media Brands, LLC THESTREET is a registered trademark of TheStreet, Inc.
Forbes
35 minutes ago
- Forbes
Fox News Channel's Panel Show ‘The Five' Just Made Cable News History
Logo at the main entrance to the FOX News Headquarters at NewsCorp Building in Manhattan. (Photo by ... More Erik McGregor/LightRocket via Getty Images) Katie Pavlich couldn't resist raving at one point during Thursday's episode of The Five that the House of Representatives' passage that same day of President Trump's domestic policy bill represented a 'big, beautiful win for America.' Appropriating the same rhetorical flourish that Trump himself popularized in reference to the nearly 900-page budget reconciliation package, Pavlich then went on to poke fun at Democrats for 'throwing a hissy fit' over their legislative loss. In response to a tweet from President Biden that was put on the screen for viewers of The Five, Pavlich continued: 'Joe Biden campaigned on being a moderate and governed like a far-left lunatic, essentially, and a lot of this bill takes back a number of things that he implemented during his term.' That kind of sharp commentary, mixed with rapid-fire hot takes about the day's news from a rotating panel of hosts, is the simple formula that Fox News Channel's 5 p.m. talk show has parlayed into cable news dominance. And enough viewers keep tuning in to the show to hear panelists break down the news that it's not only become a ratings juggernaut for Fox — The Five also just made television history in the second quarter of this year: It's now the first non-primetime program ever to finish as the most-watched cable news offering for 15 consecutive quarters. The Five, Fox News' ratings giant Look even closer at the second quarter ratings data, and the trend gets even more interesting: At a time when CNN just saw its worst quarter in history in terms of viewership in the key demo, the parent network of The Five just finished its second highest-rated second quarter in history among weekday total day viewers, behind only 2020's coverage of the COVID-19 pandemic. Fox News now owns 62% of the total day cable news audience and 63% in primetime. Both CNN and MSNBC, meanwhile, not only saw double-digit declines in their audiences during the quarter, according to Nielsen data — those two networks are also set to be spun off by their respective parent companies, while The Five alone grew its viewership in the 25-54 demo 52% year-over-year. It's hard to overstate just how crucial the show has become to Fox's daily program schedule. In the second quarter, The Five also surpassed a slew of major broadcast programs, with Nielsen estimates revealing that The Five outperformed everything from the CBS Evening News to NBC's Law & Order, and CBS' NCIS: Origins — programs that boast a much larger reach in terms of broadcast households. Yet despite being available in far fewer homes as those broadcast giants reach, The Five consistently outranked them, delivering an average of 3.9 million total viewers and 410,000 viewers in the key 25-54 demo. Those numbers reveal two important facts: The Fox talk show is capturing not only traditional cable news audiences but also viewers in the younger, more sought-after demographic. And it's still doing so almost 15 years after its debut. The fact that the show has seen a steady number of guest hosts cycle on and off the panel over the years is also further evidence that the formula itself is strong enough to keep viewers coming back. Considering the fact that when The Five originally premiered in July 2011 it was as a replacement for Glenn Beck's show and only meant to run during the summer, the show's success is all the more remarkable. It quickly outperformed expectations, winning its time slot and scoring a permanent renewal just a few months after its debut. Since then, the ratings trend line for The Five has only really flowed in one direction — up and to the right.
The Hill
44 minutes ago
- The Hill
Minerals for peace? How to make the Rwanda-DRC deal stick.
A U.S.-brokered peace deal, signed on June 27 between the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Rwanda, will link economic integration and respect for territorial integrity with the promise of Western investment. It is a mineral deal first, an opportunity for peace second. Making the deal work will depend on continued monitoring by the U.S. government and support from Congress. The deal aligns squarely with U.S. strategic interests and President Trump's ethos for a transactional foreign policy. The carrots offered to both the Congolese for their minerals and to Rwanda, a potential processing hub, may get the two to the table. Yet from my experience in the region, I believe a sustainable peace can only be delivered if accountability for human rights violations committed by all sides is out front. For while this deal represents the most practical opportunity in years to end abuses against civilians in eastern Congo, it fails to address the impunity that drives so much conflict. The region's mineral wealth, which includes cobalt, coltan, gold, tin, and tungsten, is an invisible driver of both opportunity and destruction. Armed groups financed by the pillaging of these resources have long perpetuated the conflict. Grave abuses have been committed by the M23 rebel group, which controls key parts of eastern Congo, and the Rwandan government forces that support them. For its part, the Congolese government should account for abuses by its own troops and allied militia. Without an end to this conflict, the foreign investment, mining operations and other actors looking to benefit from the minerals deal may not be spared from the violence, lack of rule of law and continuing injustice. For years, Rwanda has backed the M23, fueling violence and instability. This latest incursion has been brutal as they have committed widespread abuses, including summary executions, shelling displacement camps and forcibly recruiting children. The fighting earlier this year between M23 and the Congo forces displaced hundreds of thousands of people and exacerbated a long-running humanitarian crisis. Our research shows that these attacks are often carried out with the direct coordination of Rwandan forces, which provide the weapons. For the Trump administration's momentum to turn into tangible progress, Rwanda must first be held to the principles it agreed to in April, including to withdraw its troops from the Democratic Republic of Congo and rein in the M23, which should no longer remain in a position to terrorize civilians in key towns and cities. Its attacks against civilians need to end. Compliance should be verified by independent international observers aware of the Rwandan government's pattern of denial and duplicity. Pressure to adhere to the key principles of the deal will not come from inside Rwanda. The ruling party is intolerant of dissent both at home and abroad. Pressure is needed from Rwanda's partners. The U.S. should be ready to further sanction Rwandan officials implicated in abuses and publicly call out the government when it sidesteps key provisions of the deal. The Congolese government also needs to clean its own house. Its continued support for its allied militia will undermine the deal. Over the course of this crisis we have also documented the Congolese army's coordination with and support for the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda, some of whose fighters and commanders were responsible for the 1994 Rwandan genocide. This needs to end. Congo should dismantle this group once and for all. Ethnic divisions remain explosive in the region. The Congolese government should make good-faith efforts to rein in hate speech that threatens to incite violence. The U.S. Congress can help improve the chances of success and sustainability of the U.S.-brokered deal with the Congo and Rwanda since the signing by directing that U.S. investment in any infrastructure or security support must be contingent on the full withdrawal of Rwandan troops from Congo and an end to Congolese support for abusive groups. Congress should also signal support for investigations into serious crimes and to ensure international monitoring and compliance with the agreement. Anything less risks betraying the promise of a real, lasting peace for eastern Congo as well as for a reliable stream of minerals, untainted by rights abuses, for the United States. Lewis Mudge is the Central Africa director at Human Rights Watch.
