Obama eases travel and trade restriction with Cuba

It is no coincidence that President Obama chose to fulfill his campaign promise and ease restrictions on travel and trade with Cuba on the eve of a trip to Mexico and the "Summit of the Americas" this week.

Obama wants to "reach out" not just to the Cuban people, but to "re-engage" with the citizens of the other nations in the hemisphere as well, administration officials said Monday. The rewriting of U.S. policy on Cuba is one way to send such a signal.

"We anticipate that our friends in the region, with whom we've always had a spirited discussion about Cuba, will raise this," said Denis McDonough, the director of strategic communications at the White House National Security Council.

The new guidelines will allow Cuban Americans to make unlimited trips to visit their families in Cuba, lift the limits on the amount of money that can be sent to family members on the island, and permit U.S. firms to sell computers, cell phones and television and radio service to the Cubans.

"We want to increase the flow of information among Cubans, and between Cubans and the outside world," said Dan Restrepo, the senior director for western hemisphere affairs at the National Security Council.

White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs said that "this is in no way designed to, or done in a way to quell so-called pressure" from Venezuela and other nations that are pushing to admit Cuba into the Organization of American States, and to otherwise normalize relations between Cuba and its neighbors.

But by easing the travel and trade restrictions for Cuban Americans, Obama will undercut criticism that the United States expects to hear from Cuba's supporters, and will arm America's diplomats and allies with evidence of U.S. openness and receptivity to change.

"The issue is going to be, I think, strongly discussed" among the countries attending the summit, said Peter Deshazo, a foreign policy analyst at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.

Until the Cuban government responds with some liberalizing measures of its own, the United States will maintain its trade embargo and ban on commercial travel to Cuba, Gibbs said.

"The president would like to see greater freedom for the Cuban people….But he's not the only person in the equation," Gibbs said. "There are steps…that the Cuban government can and must take."

http://www.globalpost.com/notebook/america-and-the-world/090413/obama-eases-travel-and-trade-restriction-cuba