A reverse with Cuba

Officials are stating that President Trump may soon reverse the Obama-era policies with Cuba which would put on another line of problems to what was supposed to be easing out US-Cuba relations. This would not only rollback the relations but also fulfill campaign promises to Cuban-American voters.

An announcement is expected soon on the future of Cuban-American relations that seemed to be seeing a light at the end of the tunnel. Officials are stating that President Donald Trump is expected to rollback the work that former President Barrack Obama did with Cuba as early as June.

What it means for Cuba and the US

Current and former administration officials, as well as Cuban experts, are expecting an announcement that could set back the clock on all the work that was done to fix the relations with the island nation. The announcement is expected to state that the United States will no longer make “unilateral concessions to Cuba” according to CNN. It is also expected that Trump will demand US fugitives that have had political asylum in Cuba to be handed over. Lastly, it is believed that Trump will ban American companies from making deals with the Cuban military.

Although these changes could affect the relations, not everything is expected to change. Trump will still be keeping some of the changes that Obama made. He also does not want to close the doors on Cuba’s market to American businesses. Instead, he is looking to fulfill his promise to Conservative Cuban-American voters as well as anti-Castro members. Cuban officials have not commented on the issue.

No Cigars Nor Rum?

Since relations improved and the announcement of Raul Castro stepping down in 2018, there has been an increased tourism to the island by American’s as well as Trump himself looking to open hotels on the island before becoming president. Since then, however, Trump now being president and putting a strain on the relations, changes are imminent. During Trump’s campaign, he threatened to cut diplomatic ties with the nation if there were no changes by the Cuban government on human rights and religious freedom and are now looking at a tighter control on American’s whom visit the country. Currently, Americans are allowed to visit the country with a “self-license” under 12 categories of travel, such as educational, work, or attending a sporting event, but that could soon end as it has made it easy to create a loophole for anyone to visit the island legally. With the administration looking to go back to tightening travel to Cuba, a ban on bringing back cigars and rum could be reenacted.

Waiting and Seeing

The Cubans have kept mum about most of the current issues and have developed a patient attitude with Trump as they are watching his every move. Although Castro congratulated Trump on his win back in November, and stated how he hoped to continue to work towards improving relations, things quickly shifted another direction when in May Trump expressed his hope on achieving a better Cuba upholding their religious views, economic liberties and human rights. The same day a Cuban broadcaster said Trump’s views were “clumsy”.