The Custom-House

Obama to relax restrictions on travel and remittances to Cuba

Anonymous administration sources are reporting this weekend that the Obama Administration will lift restrictions on family travel and remittances to Cuba this month. 

Laura Meckler reported first in the Wall Street Journal: U.S to Lift Some Cuba Travel Curbs.. Here's another report from the New York Times: Obama to Loosen Restrictions on Policy With Cuba.

Will Obama relax sanctions on Cuba?

Evan Perez (Cuba Sanctions Likely to Ease) notes that "Mr. Obama, in a May campaign speech in Miami, went where presidential candidates have long feared to go by promising to lift restrictions on family visits and remittances by Cuban-Americans seeking to help relatives on the island."

Completely lifting the embargo is another matter: "Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva on Wednesday called on the president-elect to lift the nearly 50-year-old trade embargo entirely. That is more difficult to do because the embargo is codified in federal law. Mr. Obama has signaled that he would move toward normalizing relations if the Cuban government makes human-rights improvements."