The Treasury Department on Tuesday imposed harsh new travel restrictions on visits to Cuba by U.S. citizens, including a ban on the educational and recreational trips categorized as “people-to-people” travel, which has been used by thousands of Americans even before the Obama administration loosened rules. Treasury officials also said travel permissions would be denied for private and corporate aircraft and boats, though commercial flights would continue. “Cuba continues to play a destabilizing role in the Western Hemisphere, providing a communist foothold in the region and propping up U.S. adversaries in places like Venezuela and Nicaragua by fomenting instability, undermining the rule of law, and suppressing democratic processes,” Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said. “It kills the people-to-people category, which is the most common way for the average American to travel to Cuba,” Collin Laverty, head of Cuba Educational Travel, one of the largest Cuba travel companies in the U.S., told the AP.
