And to Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) for defending the integrity of U.S. law, which prohibits tourism travel to Cuba.
It's fascinating to now watch some of these travel providers whining that their licenses aren't being renewed, when for the last year they have been touting their tourism junkets, e.g. baseball games, rum museums, cigar factories, beach visits and dance parties.
Perhaps they should have thought about that beforehand.
In The LA Times:
Less than two years after President Obama set off a boom in Cuban travel by relaxing restrictions on “people-to-people” educational trips, Obama’s Treasury Department has again tightened restrictions, forcing cancellations and delays that have put dozens of educational group trips in limbo.
Though Treasury officials have said little about reasons for the move, it follows complaints by U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) about “rampant abuses” in the program, which is intended to foster “meaningful interaction between travelers and inviduals in Cuba.”
The slowdown apparently began May 10, when the U.S. Treasury Department stiffened the requirements for the renewable one-year licenses that allow educational tour operators into Cuba. Jeff Braunger, program manager for the Treasury Department’s Cuba Travel Licensing, said in an e-mail that the application process was tightened “because of reports we received” about licensed trips failing to meet government standards.
