Why is the US cracking down on Cuba?

Podcasts

The Trump administration has imposed new restrictions on travel to Cuba for Americans. They include eliminating some recreational and educational trips. The U.S. State Department also announced it will bar cruise ships going to the island.

The measures are yet another roll-back on progress made between former U.S. President Barack Obama and former Cuban President Raul Castro, which Trump has described as a “one-sided” deal with Cuba.

But critics call the move political — a retaliation for Cuba’s humanitarian and political aid in Venezuela, and a hat tip to conservative Cuban-Americans ahead of 2020 presidential elections.

On today’s episode of The Heat Podcast, Anand Naidoo talks with Collin Laverty, expert on U.S.-Cuban relations and travel on exactly what to make of these new restrictions and prospect of softening tensions under President Trump.