Obama issues new policy on travel and cash remittances for Americans with family in Cuba

Keeping a campaign promise:

President Barack Obama on Monday will ease limits on family travel and cash gifts from the United States to Cuba and allow U.S. telecommunications firms to bid for licenses on the communist-ruled island, a U.S. official said.

The decision does not lift Washington's trade embargo with Cuba though it does open a crack in the bulwark set up more than four decades ago and maintained by successive U.S. administrations.

The move also fulfills one of Obama's campaign promises to allow Cuban Americans to travel more freely to Cuba and increase financial help to family members there, and could herald improved ties between the two longtime foes.

Supporters of easing U.S. sanctions against Cuba welcomed the move, which will affect an estimated 1.5 million Americans who have family members in Cuba, as "ground breaking".

Good move. And, it is a big step in the right direction.

From the White House Fact Sheet:

Specifically, the President has directed the Secretaries of State, Treasury, and Commerce to take the needed steps to:

· Lift all restrictions on transactions related to the travel of family members to Cuba.

· Remove restrictions on remittances to family members in Cuba.

· Authorize U.S. telecommunications network providers to enter into agreements to establish fiber-optic cable and satellite telecommunications facilities linking the United States and Cuba.

· License U.S. telecommunications service providers to enter into roaming service agreements with Cuba’s telecommunications service providers.

· License U.S. satellite radio and satellite television service providers to engage in transactions necessary to provide services to customers in Cuba.

· License persons subject to U.S. jurisdiction to activate and pay U.S. and third-country service providers for telecommunications, satellite radio and satellite television services provided to individuals in Cuba.

· Authorize the donation of certain consumer telecommunication devices without a license.

· Add certain humanitarian items to the list of items eligible for export through licensing exceptions.