By restricting travel by Americans and commercial activity with Cuba, President Donald Trump has made significant strides toward his promise to reverse his predecessor President Barack Obama's Cuba policy.
The Trump administration made it harder for Americans to visit the island by getting rid of the "people to people" group travel, preventing cruise ships from stopping in Cuba and restricting U.S. airlines and charter flights from flying to any city other than Havana.
Trump's team also increased financial and banking restrictions against the Cuban regime and increased restrictions regarding shipping to Cuba. The administration refused to name a U.S. ambassador to Cuba. (The U.S. Embassy in Havana is led by someone in a "Chargé d-Affaires" role instead.) The administration also ordered Marriott to close its hotel in Havana by August.
"In overall policy direction, there has been a complete reversal, with the tone changing from engagement to isolation and confrontation. In implementation, there has been a substantial, though not complete, reversal," said Pedro A. Freyre, chair of the Akerman law firm's international practice in Miami.
A number of regulatory changes implemented by Obama do remain in place, including that the U.S. still has an embassy in Havana (but it withdrew most of its staff).
There is one issue in which both administrations seem to agree: immigration.
In January 2017, the Obama administration terminated the automatic granting of parole to Cubans, ending a policy of welcoming Cuban refugees in effect since the early 1960s. The Trump administration has not reversed this change, which aligns with its own general immigration policy objectives, said Sebastián A. Arcos, associate director of the Cuban Research Institute at Florida International University.
Although some of the changes implemented by the Obama administration survived, "it can be argued that the Trump administration has effectively reversed the vast majority of the Obama Cuba policy changes implemented between 2014 and 2016," Arcos said.
Some observers have criticized the administration's actions related to Cuba, arguing that it will cause harm to Cuban citizens. But our role here is to fact-check whether Trump fulfilled his promise, not judge his promise. Multiple experts told us that Trump has made major strides in reversing Obama's Cuba policy. We rate this Promise Kept.