Donald Trump’s anti-Cuba escalation

This video from the USA says about itself:

Rep. Barbara Lee: Trump Should Keep Open Relations with Cuba, Not Reinstitute Failed U.S. Policy

15 June 2017

On Friday, President Trump is expected to announce plans to roll back some of the United States’ new diplomatic and commercial relations with Cuba, which were brokered under the Obama administration. Bloomberg News reports the changes may include curbing travel between the U.S. and Cuba. Other changes may include reinstating restrictions on Americans visiting Cuba and bringing back famous Cuban goods, like cigars and rum. Officials also say Trump might demand the extradition of people who have received political asylum in Cuba, like Assata Shakur. For more, we speak with Democratic Congresswoman Barbara Lee of California.

By James Tweedie in Britain:

Trump set to clamp down on Cuba

Saturday 17th June 2017

Activists condemn renewed restrictions as a ‘major setback’

CUBA solidarity campaigners warned of “a major setback” yesterday after revelations that US President Donald Trump is planning to clamp down on travel and commercial ties with the island.

Anonymous White House officials leaked details of policy changes to the media ahead of Mr Trump’s official announcement in Miami’s Little Havana district.

The president is expected to announce plans which will reinstate restrictions lifted by his predecessor Barack Obama in December 2014.

These include tightening the rules for US citizens travelling to Cuba and banning US business dealings with the Enterprise Administration Group SA (Gaesa) — run by the Cuban armed forces — which operates dozens of hotels, tour buses, restaurants and other facilities.

Holidaymakers from the US will be restricted to package tours organised by US firms — unlike British tourists who can stay in bed-and-breakfast hotels and wander the streets of Havana.

Mr Trump will reportedly sell the new restrictions on Cuba as cutting off funding to state institutions that the US accuses of repressing “human rights”.

But critics said it would cripple Cuba’s booming small business sector.

Cuba Solidarity Campaign director Rob Miller said the measures “will be a major setback for US-Cuba relations and will condemn the Cuban people to continue suffering the consequences of the blockade” — which has not yet been formally lifted.

He said Mr Trump had “succumbed to pressure from hardline pro-blockade politicians” in the important electoral swing state.

Mr Miller pointed out that the announcement “flies in the face of US public opinion” — with 65 per cent of respondents to a recent poll backing improved relations.

“This will be a huge disappointment to the people of Cuba who saw a glimmer of hope that the blockade may end,” he added.

Mr Trump’s plans will not completely reverse the detente begun under Mr Obama — as he had promised Florida’s Cuban emigre community during last year’s election.

The “wet foot-dry foot” asylum policy that led thousands to risk their lives on people-trafficking boats will not be reinstated.

BBC: Mike examines allegations that CIA agents sabotaged consignments of British Leyland buses bound for Cuba in the 1960s. The British government’s support of a deal to export hundreds of buses to the island, which was in the early days of its revolution, incensed the American government, which was trying to enforce its economic blockade. With anti-Castro rhetoric and communist fears mounting within the Kennedy administration, the CIA was given special powers to undermine the regime in Cuba: here.