WASHINGTON: The Trump administration on Tuesday ended the most popular forms of US travel to Cuba, banning cruise ships and a heavily used category of educational travel in an attempt to cut off cash to the island’s communist government.
Cruise travel from the US to Cuba began in May 2016 during President Barack Obama’s opening with the island. It has become the most popular form of US leisure travel to the island, bringing 142,721 people in the first four months of the year, a more than 300% increase over the same period last year. For travelers confused about the thicket of federal regulations governing travel to Cuba, cruises offered a simple, one-stop, guaranteed-legal way to travel.
That now appears to be over.
“Cruise ships as well as recreational and pleasure vessels are prohibited from departing the US on temporary sojourn to Cuba effective tomorrow,” the Commerce Department said in a statement to The Associated Press.
The new restrictions are part of a broader effort by the administration of President Donald Trump to roll back the Obama-era efforts to restore normal relations between the United States and Cuba, which drew sharp criticism from the more hard-line elements of the Cuban-American community and their allies in Congress.
Treasury said the sanctions would take effect on Wednesday after they are published in the Federal Register.
US national security adviser John Bolton, who declared Cuba part of a “troika of tyranny ” along with Nicaragua and Venezuela as he outlined plans for sanctions in November, said the new policy is intended to deny the Cuban government a vital source of revenue.
“The Administration has advanced the President’s Cuba policy by ending ‘veiled tourism’ to Cuba and imposing restrictions on vessels,” Bolton said on Twitter. “We will continue to take actions to restrict the Cuban regime’s access to US dollars.”
The Cuban government imposed food rationing last month as a result of tightened US sanctions and a drop in subsidized oil and other aid from Venezuela. For the Cuban government, cruise travel generated many millions of dollars a year in docking fees and payments for on-shore excursions, although those figures were never made public. Cuba also has become the most-requested destination for many South Florida-based cruise lines.
“The Trump administration deserves tremendous credit for holding accountable the Cuban regime,” Florida Republican Sen. Marco Rubio said. “The United States must use all tools available under US law to counter the Cuban regime’s deceitful activities to undermine US policy.”
The new restrictions take effect Wednesday, but the government said it will allow anyone who has already paid for the trip to go ahead with it. But the process going forward for passengers isn’t clear.
Cruise companies appeared to be caught off guard, with several, including Norwegian Cruise Lines and Royal Caribbean, urging ticketed passengers to be patient in response to queries on social media.
Finally, more than nine hours after the Treasury announcement, Royal Caribbean said it was canceling the Cuba stops on its June 5 and 6 cruises and would issue further guidance on future trips as soon as it was practical.
“We expect to know more within the next 24 hours and will communicate any changes as soon as we are able. In the meantime, we are adjusting the itineraries of our June 5 and June 6 sailings, which will no longer stop in Cuba. We are communicating with our guests about those changes,” Royal Caribbean said in a notice posted to its website.
Cruise lines carrying passengers booked before Tuesday had been hoping that they could request specific federal permits to complete their trips to Cuba, said Pedro Freyre, a Miami-based attorney who represents Carnival and three other major cruise lines.
“For now, it’s prohibited unless the cruise lines requests a specific license,” Freyre said. He said cruise lines had been trying to determine “if there’s any opening there to at least complete trips that have been booked and passengers that have made travel plans.”
Norwegian Cruise Line said in a statement that it was scrutinizing the new rules and consulting with lawyers and trade experts.
“We are closely monitoring these recent developments and any resulting impact to cruise travel to Cuba,” Norwegian Cruise Line said in a statement. “We will communicate to our guests and travel partners as additional information becomes available.”
Shore excursions from cruise ships tend to be organized by the cruise lines in cooperation with Cuban government tour agency Havanatur. A smaller number hire private tour guides or drivers of restored classic cars who wait outside Havana’s cruise docks.
“This affects all of us,” said William Mártinez, 58, a Cuban-born American who lived in Florida for 46 years but returned five years ago to drive a classic car for tourists. “It’s inhuman, the sanctions that they’re putting on Cuba.”
Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said the measures are a response to what it calls Cuba’s “destabilizing role” in the Western Hemisphere, including support for the government of President Nicolas Maduro in Venezuela.
“This administration has made a strategic decision to reverse the loosening of sanctions and other restrictions on the Cuban regime,” Mnuchin said. “These actions will help to keep US dollars out of the hands of Cuban military, intelligence, and security services.”
Along with the cruise ships, the US will also now ban most private planes and boats from stopping in the island.
Cruises have become more popular than flights for leisure travelers to Cuba — nearly 30,000 more came by cruise ship than flights this year. The figures exclude Cuban-born Americans visiting family on the island.
“I’ve been dying to come to Cuba forever, to see the cars, the buildings,” said Maria Garcia, a 46-year-old teacher from Puerto Rico who arrived in Havana Tuesday morning on a Norwegian cruise line. “I could do it with this cruise ... Trump needs to understand that people should come to this country, to enjoy and get to know its culture, just like we would do in any other part of the world.”
Commercial airline flights appear to be unaffected by the new measures and travel for university groups, academic research, journalism and professional meetings will continue to be allowed.
Collin Laverty, head of Cuba Educational Travel, one of the largest Cuba travel companies in the US, called the new measures “political grandstanding aimed at Florida in the run up to the 2020 elections.”
“It’s also terrible for US companies that are providing employment and paying taxes in the US and creating an economic footprint on the island,” he said.
US moves to bar American tourists from visiting Cuba
US moves to bar American tourists from visiting Cuba
- White House National Security Advisor John Bolton said the aim was to end what the administration considers "veiled tourism" to Cuba
- Cuba and the US restored ties in 2015 and Obama himself visited Havana in a historic presidential trip in March 2016, meeting with then-president Raul Castro
Sweden to send NATO troops to Latvia next year: PM
- The Swedish troop contribution was the first to be announced since the Scandinavian country joined NATO in March
- The battalion would be comprised of around 400 to 500 troops
STOCKHOLM: Sweden will next year contribute a reduced battalion to NATO forces in Latvia to help support the Baltic state following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson said Thursday.
The Swedish troop contribution was the first to be announced since the Scandinavian country joined NATO in March.
Kristersson had in January announced that Sweden would likely send a battalion to take part in NATO’s permanent multinational mission in Latvia, dubbed the Enhanced Forward Presence, aimed at boosting defense capacity in the region.
“The government this morning gave Sweden’s armed forces the formal task of planning and preparing for the Swedish contribution of a reduced mechanized battalion to NATO’s forward land forces in Latvia,” Kristersson told reporters during a press conference with his Latvian counterpart Evika Silina.
He said the battalion, which will be in Latvia for six months, would be comprised of around 400 to 500 troops.
“Our aim is a force contribution, including CV 90s armored vehicles and Leopard 2 main battle tanks.”
“We’re planning for the deployment early next year after a parliament decision,” he said.
UK police make fourth arrest after migrant deaths off France
- NCA said it arrested an 18-year-old from Sudan late Wednesday on suspicion of facilitating illegal immigration and entering the UK illegally
- The latest arrest took place at Manston in Kent, southeast England, and the suspect was taken into custody for questioning
LONDON: UK police said Thursday that they had arrested another man after five migrants, including a child, died this week trying to cross the Channel from France.
The National Crime Agency (NCA) said it arrested an 18-year-old from Sudan late Wednesday on suspicion of facilitating illegal immigration and entering the UK illegally.
The arrest came as part of an investigation into the Channel small boat crossing which resulted in the deaths of five people on a French beach on Tuesday.
The NCA detained two Sudanese nationals aged 19 and 22, and a South Sudan national, also 22, on Tuesday and Wednesday, also on suspicion of facilitating illegal immigration and entering the UK illegally.
The 19-year-old has been released without charge, and is now being dealt with by immigration authorities, said the NCA.
The latest arrest took place at Manston in Kent, southeast England, and the suspect was taken into custody for questioning.
Three men, a woman and a seven-year-old girl lost their lives in the early hours of Tuesday in the sea near the northern French town of Wimereux.
They had been in a packed boat that set off before dawn but whose engine stopped a few hundred meters from the beach.
Several people then fell into the water. About 50 people were rescued and brought ashore but emergency services were unable to resuscitate the five.
Fifteen people have died this year trying to cross the busy shipping lane from northern France to southern England, according to an AFP tally.
That is already more than the 12 who died in the whole of last year.
Belgium summons Israeli ambassador over aid worker’s death
- Abdallah Nabhan, 33, along with his seven-year-old son, 65-year-old father, 35-year-old brother and six-year-old niece, were killed in Israel strike
- The airstrike hit the family home where 25 people were sheltering
BRUSSELS: Belgium said Thursday that it would summon Israel’s ambassador to explain the death in a Gaza airstrike of an aid worker with its Enabel development agency, as well as members of his family.
“Bombing civilian areas and populations is contrary to international law. I will summon the Israeli ambassador to condemn this unacceptable act and demand an explanation,” Foreign Minister Hadja Lahbib said on X.
Enabel said in a statement that Abdallah Nabhan, 33, along with his seven-year-old son, 65-year-old father, 35-year-old brother and six-year-old niece, were killed “after an Israeli airstrike in the eastern part of the city of Rafah.”
An Enabel employee & his family have been killed in Gaza. We express our solidarity with his family & colleagues.
— Hadja Lahbib (@hadjalahbib) April 25, 2024
Bombing civilian areas & populations is contrary to international law. I will summon the Israeli ambassador to condemn this unacceptable act & demand an explanation.
The airstrike hit the family home where 25 people were sheltering, including people displaced by the Israeli military operation in Gaza, Enabel said.
It said that Nabhan, who had worked on a Belgian development project helping young people find jobs, and his family were on a list Israel had of people eligible to exit Gaza, but that they were killed before being granted permission to leave.
Enabel’s chief, Jean Van Wetter, called their deaths “yet another flagrant violation by Israel of international humanitarian law.”
The health ministry in Gaza, run by the Hamas militant group, says more than 34,000 people have died in the war being waged in the Palestinian territory, most of them women and children.
Israel is conducting airstrikes and ground operations there in retaliation for a Hamas attack on October 7 that killed around 1,170 people in Israel, according to an AFP tally of Israeli figures.
Belgium, which currently holds the EU presidency, is among the European countries most vocal in condemning Israel’s operation as disproportionately deadly for Palestinian civilians.
Ukraine, Russia exchange fire, at least seven dead
- The uptick in civilian deaths came as Russian forces are pressing in hard in the eastern Donetsk region of Ukraine
- A Ukrainian attack drone left two dead in Zaporizhzhia and two more were killed by Ukranian artillery fire in Kherson
MOSCOW: Ukrainian and Russian forces exchanged drone and artillery fire on Thursday, leaving at least seven dead, regional officials on both sides of the frontline announced.
The uptick in civilian deaths came as Russian forces are pressing in hard in the eastern Donetsk region of Ukraine, ahead of events in Moscow on May 9, hailing the Soviet Union's victory in World War II.
A Ukrainian attack drone left two dead in the southern region of Zaporizhzhia and two more were killed by Ukranian artillery fire in the southern Kherson region, officials said.
The Kremlin claimed to have annexed both regions in late 2022 even though Russian forces are still battling to gain full control over them.
"A man and a woman were killed as a result of a strike on a civilian car. Their four young children were orphaned," the Russian-installed head of Zaporizhzhia, Evgeny Balitsky, wrote on social media.
He said the children would be taken into care and provided with psychological assistance.
The Russian head of the Kherson region, Vladimir Saldo, said separately that two more people were killed by Ukrainian fire in the village of Dnipryany.
The two frontline regions saw intense bouts of fighting in 2022 and the summer of 2023, when Ukraine launched a counteroffensive that failed to meet expectations in Zaporizhzhia.
The brunt of the fighting has since moved to the eastern Donetsk region, which is also claimed by Moscow as Russian territory.
The Ukrainian head of the Donetsk region, Vadim Filashkin, said three people had been killed in separate bouts of shelling in the villages of Udachne, where two people were killed, and in Kurakhivka, where one person was killed.
"The final consequences of the shelling have yet to be determined," he said.
Keralites in Gulf take ‘vote flights’ to join India’s mammoth polls
- ‘Vote flights’ are special chartered flights bringing Keralites home to cast ballots
- Kerala is the single main place of origin of Indian expats living in Gulf countries
NEW DELHI: Tens of thousands of Keralites working in Gulf countries are flying home to cast their ballots as the southern Indian state opens for voting on Friday in the world’s biggest general election.
India’s seven-phase polls started on April 19 and take place over the next six weeks, with more than 968 million people registered to vote.
Some states are completing the process in a day, and others have it spread out in several phases. Kerala is joining other 12 states, which according to the schedule go to the polls on April 26.
Indian nationals living overseas have been allowed to vote since 2011 and have to register with both the Election Commission of India and Indian embassies in their countries of residence. Their names will then appear on the voters’ list, but to cast their ballots, they still need to be physically present in their constituencies.
India has one of the world’s largest diasporas, especially in GCC countries, where at least 9 million Indian expats live and work. The southwestern coastal state of Kerala is the single main place of their origin. Some 3.5 million Keralites reside in Saudi Arabia, Oman, Kuwait, Qatar, Bahrain and the UAE.
“I think about 30,000 people have come from Saudi Arabia alone to vote. Not all of them have come on ‘vote viman’ (vote flights). Some have also come by regular flights,” said Iqbal Cheri, a marketing professional working in Dammam, who reached Kerala on Thursday.
Cheri referred to the flights that have been bringing citizens home to participate in Friday’s polls.
“They bring voters only and they are mostly chartered flights,” he said. “We have come here to vote and save our democracy and secularism. It’s an important election and we all need to vote to save the nation.”
His compatriot, Shareef Chola Paramdil, who works as a marketing head of a hospital in Dammam, said these election flights have been bringing Saudi Arabia-based Kerala voters home for the past few days.
“Last week, also three chartered flights came from Saudi Arabia,” he said.
“People who come on the chartered flights pay less compared to the regular flights, as group booking brings down the fare. Besides, these people don’t get more than a few days of leave. So, they come and cast their votes and leave the next day.”
There are 543 contested seats in the lower house of parliament. The party or coalition that wins at least 272 is going to form the government. The state of Kerala will contribute 20.
For Paramdil, the election is particularly important as a Muslim because incumbent Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his ruling Bharatiya Janata Party have been accused by the opposition and minority groups of marshaling majoritarian Hindu sentiment.
Critics say that India’s tradition of diversity and secularism has been under attack since Modi took power a decade ago and that his party has been fostering religious intolerance and discrimination.
“We want a government that does not discriminate in the name of religion, and we have been troubled by the politics of division that the government in Delhi has been practicing ever since it came to power in 2014,” Paramdil said.
Both Keralite Muslims and Hindus — like Gokul Padnabhan, a Kuwait-based professional in the oil and gas industry — see the election as an important exercise of their democratic rights.
“It’s very important to be here this time. That’s why I came for the vote,” Padnabhan said. “The vote will help us find the right person to rule us for the next five years.”
One of the organizations helping expat voters charter flights in Gulf countries is the Kerala Muslim Cultural Centre, an overseas wing of the Indian Union Muslim League.
“I feel around 100,000 people have come from the Gulf region to vote in this election,” said Ahamed Saju, head of the IUML’s student federation.
“Why they came is because this is a very crucial election this time ... Each and every vote is important. So, they thought that this time to protect our democracy, protect our constitution, protect our values and protect our secular credentials and the secular fabric of the country.”
