Donald Trump announces new sanctions on Cuba preventing U.S. citizens from staying at properties owned by their government
Donald Trump announced Wednesday from the White House new sanctions that will prohibit Americans from staying at properties owned by the Cuban government.
It also will stop the import of Cuban cigars and liquor to the U.S.
'Today as part of our continuing fight against communist oppression I am announcing that the Treasury Department will prohibit U.S. travelers from staying at properties owned by the Cuban government,' Trump said at an East Room event honoring Bay of Pigs veterans.
'We're also further restricting the importation of alcohol and Cuban tobacco,' he continued.
The president described the announcement as part of his administration's 'continuing fight against communist oppression.'
Donald Trump announce Wednesday new sanctions on Cuba that will prohibit Americans from staying at properties owned by the Cuban government
'Today as part of our continuing fight against communist oppression I am announcing that the Treasury Department will prohibit U.S. travelers from staying at properties owned by the Cuban government,' Trump said at an East Room event honoring Bay of Pigs veterans
Trump used his remarks Wednesday to exhibit he will fight against repressive, socialist and communist regimes in Cuba, Nicaragua and Venezuela.
'The Obama-Biden administration made a weak, pathetic, one-sided deal with the Castro dictatorship that betrayed the Cuban people and enriched the communist regime. I cancelled the Obama-Biden sellout to the Castro Regime,' Trump told the small audience.
'We will not lift sanctions until all political prisoners are freed, freedoms of assembly and expression are respected, all political parties are legalized and free elections are scheduled,' Trump continued. 'They will have to go through a lot but things are happening.'
Although U.S.-Cuban relations improved under Barack Obama's presidency, as he relaxed sanctions on the nation, Trump has reversed many of that.
In December 2014, Obama and then-President Raúl Castro announced they would begin normalizing relations between their two nations – it was dubbed 'the Cuban Thaw.'
Obama also became the first U.S. president in 88 years to visit the island in March 2016.
Ever since he began campaigning for president, Trump criticized aspects of the Cuban Thaw, claiming he would work to negotiate 'a good agreement.' He said Obama's policies granted Cuba sanctions relief with the U.S. receiving nothing in return.
In June 2017 Trump announced that he was suspending what he called a 'completely one-sided deal with Cuba'.
The sanctions were announced as part of Trump's remarks from the East Room of the White House on Wednesday to honor Bay of Pigs veterans.
The Bay of Pigs invasion was a failed landing operation on the southwestern coast of Cuba in 1961.
It was conducted by Cuban exiles who opposed Fidel Castro's Cuban Revolution.
Cuban President Miguel DÃaz-Canel took over power for Raul Castro April 19, 2018.
However, Castro still serves as first secretary of the Communist Party of Cuba, which continues to be the most powerful political position in Cuba.
Fidel Castro was both president and first secretary from 1976 to 2008.