The Trump administration on Tuesday imposed new restrictions on Americans going to Cuba, banning the most common way Americans travel to the island.
The United States will not permit group educational and cultural trips known as “people to people” trips to the island, the Treasury Department said in a statement. Those trips have been used by thousands of American visitors.
The administration said that it will also no longer permit visits to Cuba “via passenger and recreational vessels, including cruise ships and yachts, and private and corporate aircraft,” methods that many Americans have used.
“Cuba continues to play a destabilizing role in the Western Hemisphere, providing a communist foothold in the region and propping up U.S. adversaries in places like Venezuela and Nicaragua by fomenting instability, undermining the rule of law, and suppressing democratic processes,” Steven Mnuchin, the Treasury Secretary, said in a statement on Tuesday.
The announcement came nearly two months after John Bolton, the president’s national security adviser, said the Treasury Department would “implement further regulatory changes to restrict non-family travel to Cuba.”