The U.S. Chamber of Commerce’s U.S.-Cuba Business Council issued the following statement regarding the administration’s additional restrictions on U.S. travelers and vessels to Cuba:
“Today, the administration doubled down on restrictions that limit U.S. citizens’ right to travel to Cuba and U.S. companies’ ability to facilitate that legal travel. We are disappointed the government has chosen to impose additional constraints on the conditions and means for U.S. travel to Cuba. We continue to believe that U.S. citizens and businesses are the best ambassadors for the ideals of freedom and free enterprise, and the regulatory changes being implemented by Commerce and Treasury today undercut their impact.
“The new restrictions will disrupt business operations in the travel sector, which is out of step with the administration’s stated efforts to hold harmless U.S. companies legally doing business in Cuba. Cuba’s fledgling entrepreneurs and the Cuban people, the very groups the U.S. government strives to support through the Presidential Memorandum on Cuba, will be further harmed by these changes.
“The U.S. Chamber’s U.S.-Cuba Business Council continues to believe more engagement, not less, with the Cuban people is critical to democratic change and improvements in the lives of the Cuban people. We call on the administration to allow Americans to exercise their freedom to travel and encourage Congress to act in support of this fundamental right.”
