Cuban Americans will now be able to make unlimited visits to family still living in on the Caribbean island, according to an announcement made by the Obama administration on Monday.
This change in U.S.-Cuba relations, intended by President Barack Obama to reunite Cuban-American families and incite acceptance of democracy in the communist island nation, may not be drastic enough, according to critics such as former Cuban President Fidel Castro.
But the ease of travel restrictions, which will allow Cuban Americans to visit relatives freely, is an exciting prospect, said Gabriella Rosca, president of the Latin American Student Association.
“I think that students are really excited about the possibility of traveling to Cuba ““ especially students who live here in the U.S. while much of their family lives back in Cuba,” Rosca said.
In addition, the new policy will pave the way for more academic and cultural exchanges between Cuba and the United States, said Mark Sawyer, UCLA professor of African American studies and political science.
In the announcement from the White House, it was also declared that money transfer restrictions for Cuban Americans would be repealed and telecommunications companies would be allowed to apply for licenses to conduct business in Cuba.
These policy changes are the beginning of a series of efforts that will build toward a summit between American and Cuban leaders, Sawyer said.
He added that the ultimate goal would be the return of normal diplomatic relations between the U.S. and Cuba.
The White House statement came only days before the Summit of the Americas, to be held in Trinidad and Tobago starting Friday, where Cuban-American relations are poised to be an important topic of discussion.
Under the previous administration, Cuban Americans could only visit relatives every three years and could send a maximum of $300 to Cuba every three months.
The changes made by the Obama administration in Cuban policy will distance the United States from the tarnished image created by the Bush administration, Rosca said.
“If there were any preconceived notions that Latin American countries had of the U.S., I hope they will reevaluate those images and distance us from them,” she said.
Rosca added that this decision shows Obama is reanalyzing policies that were established in an era of fear, during which decisions were made more out of emotion than practicality.
Although the new policy is drastically different from that of the Bush administration, many, including Castro, think that simply easing a few restrictions is not enough.
According to The Associated Press, Castro wrote in an online column that Monday’s announcement repealed a few “hateful restrictions” but the trade embargo between the two countries should be repealed in order to effect real change.
Manny Contreras, a fourth-year history and Latin American studies student, agreed that, although the changes to the U.S. policy were a good thing, they were not enough to improve U.S.-Cuban relations.
“By easing restrictions, I think that Obama is really helping the Cuban economy. But, he hasn’t opened it up to other American tourists (other than Cuban-Americans), and I think he should because it would really benefit the Cuban economy,” Contreras said.
However, some disagree that lifting the trade embargo would be beneficial for Cuba or the United States.
“A unilateral lifting of the trade embargo would not be an effective first step. The two countries need to begin to take small steps and work together to achieve common goals,” Sawyer said.