President Obama signed a general appropriations bill last week, which included some relaxation of the rules governing travel and sales to Cuba, albeit in a largely symbolic manner. Many hope this is just the first sign of a new approach to Cuba and Latin America at large on behalf of the U.S.
The bill denies funding to the U.S. Treasury Dept. for the enforcement of two restrictions, one of which is on travel to Cuba by Cuban-Americans, imposed by former President George W. Bush. It also allows a general license for U.S. companies to send representatives to the island to sell U.S. agricultural or medical products.
Under the former rules, companies had to apply for a specific license for travel on a case-by-case basis, a cumbersome process that successfully discouraged many companies from making the effort.
These small steps come a month before President Obama is slated to attend the Summit of the Americas in Trinidad and meet with all the leaders of Central and South America save Cuban President Raul Castro.
Many expect further relaxation of restrictions on Cuban trade and travel before he attends that conference. Indeed during his campaign, Obama promised to lift bans on travel to the island by Cuban-Americans and allow them to once again send money to their relatives there.
Normalization of relations with Cuba is favored by major U.S. business associations, including the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and human rights groups such as Amnesty International. Despite the opposition of hard-line anti-Castro groups in Florida and New Jersey, a new consensus may be emerging in Washington favoring a reexamination of the largely ineffective 50-year embargo. Indeed, rather than isolating Cuba, U.S. policy may have done far more to isolate us from a large part of our hemisphere. Virtually all of the countries of Latin America ...