U.S. eases restrictions on travel, remittances to Cuba

MIAMI – The long-awaited rules defining which Americans may travel freely to Cuba were released Thursday by the Treasury Department.

The new rules make it easier for U.S. schools, churches and cultural groups to visit Cuba, and increase the amount of money Americans can send to the island to support its growing private economy.

The White House says the changes to U.S.-Cuba policy are aimed at supporting Cuba’s civil society and putting distance between Cubans and their communist-led government. The policies rescinded more restrictive travel and remittance guidelines issued by President George W. Bush in 2003.

Under the official rules:

• Americans can send up to $2,000 a year to Cuba. There will be a quarterly limit on the amount any American can send: $500 per quarter to “support private economic activity.” The Clinton administration had set that figure at $300 a quarter.

• Religious and educational groups can travel to Cuba for certain types of events or study without specific licenses.

• Travel for “the commercial marketing, sales negotiation, accompanied delivery, or servicing in Cuba of telecommunications-related items that have been authorized for commercial export” is authorized without specific licenses.

The rules are controversial among Cuban exiles, some of whom say they will help a dying regime. Proponents of the changes counter that allowing more contact and economic independence would allow Cubans to cut ties to their government.