New York, 20 September 2017. On 16 June 2016, as part of his new policy toward Cuba, the current President of the United States, Donald Trump, announced new measures to intensify the blockade, contained in document "National Security Presidential Memorandum on Strengthening the Policy of the United States Toward Cuba". These measures are:
1. Prohibition of economic, commercial and financial transactions of US companies and entities with Cuban companies and entities related to the Armed Forces and the Ministry of the Interior.
2. Elimination of individual travel under the category of people-to-people exchanges.
3. Strict application, through increased vigilance, of the prohibition on traveling to Cuba other than under the 12 categories authorized by the United States law, which exclude tourism travel.
4. Opposition by the United States to actions that promote the lifting of the blockade in the United Nations and other international forums.
5. Extension of the list of Cuban government officials and citizens who cannot receive visas, remittances or engage in transactions with US entities.
6. Repeal of the Presidential Policy Directive "Normalization of relations between the United States and Cuba", issued by President Obama on 14 October 2016.
These new executive orders reverse measures adopted by the government of former President Barack Obama, who for the first time since the enactment of the blockade against Cuba, recognized that this policy was failed, obsolete and should be ended, and urged the United States Congress to remove it.
The measures announced by President Trump, in addition to intensifying hostility toward Cuba, are a setback in bilateral relations, as these place further obstacles to the very limited and scarce economic and trade ties between the two countries.
Permanent Mission of Cuba to the United Nations