Sept. 30 (UPI) — The United States imposed new financial and travel restrictions on Cuba on Wednesday, barring U.S. banks from maintaining certain accounts for Cuban private entrepreneurs and reversing measures introduced by the Biden administration to expand the island’s access to the U.S. financial system.
They also eliminate authorization for certain international payments involving Cuba to pass through U.S. banks and restrict categories of educational and professional travel to the island.
The changes to the Cuban Assets Control Regulations took effect after the Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control, or OFAC, published the amendments a day earlier.
OFAC said the amendments implement portions of President Donald Trump’s Cuba policy and regulations stemming from a May 1 executive order targeting people and entities Washington says are responsible for repression in Cuba or threats to U.S. national security and foreign policy.
The measures reverse financial openings introduced by the Biden administration in May 2024, when Treasury allowed qualifying Cuban private entrepreneurs to remotely operate U.S. bank accounts, including while physically in Cuba.
At the time, Treasury said the authorization was intended to support Cuba’s independent private sector by expanding access to financial services and facilitating authorized payments and remittances.
Under the new rules, U.S. financial institutions can no longer open or maintain accounts under that authorization. Existing funds must be blocked and reported to OFAC unless another authorization applies.
The immediate number of businesses affected could be limited. Oniel Díaz Castellanos, founder of Cuban business consulting firm Auge, said relatively few entrepreneurs had been able to take advantage of the authorization because many U.S. banks remained reluctant to work with Cuban businesses over sanctions compliance concerns.
The regulations also eliminate authorization for so-called U-turn transactions, which allow certain payments originating and terminating outside the United States to pass through U.S. financial institutions.
Effective Wednesday, U.S. banks can no longer process qualifying Cuba-related U-turn transactions, and are instead authorized to reject them
The policy has shifted between administrations. The first Trump administration eliminated U-turn transactions in September 2019 before the Biden administration restored them in May 2024.
Washington also tightened restrictions on travel to the island, eliminating the general authorization for group people-to-people educational travel and narrowing other educational travel categories. Certain academic activities involving accredited U.S. institutions remain authorized under specified conditions.
OFAC also removed the general authorization for attending or organizing certain professional meetings and conferences in Cuba.
The latest measures follow a series of sanctions imposed by the Trump administration in May that target senior Cuban officials, state-owned companies and financial institutions.
In June, Treasury sanctioned Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel and other officials and entities. It later designated state-owned oil and gas company Unión Cuba-Petróleo, known as CUPET.
Additional sanctions followed in August against people and entities Treasury said were involved in Cuban arms imports and foreign military cooperation. On Sept. 3, OFAC sanctioned Banco Exterior de Cuba and several companies linked to the country’s petroleum, mining and resource sectors.
Unlike those earlier actions, which largely targeted specific people, companies and government entities, Wednesday’s measures modify broader U.S. rules governing financial transactions and travel involving Cuba.
The restrictions came one day after Secretary of State Marco Rubio intensified the administration’s criticism of Havana.
“The truth is Cuba has already fallen,” Rubio said Monday during an interview with Fox News host Sean Hannity, describing the country as “a failed state in every sense of the word.”
Rubio said Cuba lacked a functioning economy and argued that economic changes would need to be accompanied by greater political freedoms. He also warned Cuban officials against assuming they could wait until the end of Trump’s presidency without changing course, while saying the administration preferred a diplomatic resolution.
Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodríguez responded after the new measures were announced, highlighting their timing following Rubio’s comments.
“Less than 24 hours ago, the Secretary of State said that ‘Cuba has already fallen.’ Now it turns out that additional measures are needed,” Rodríguez wrote on X.
Rodríguez accused Washington of targeting both Cuba’s public and private sectors and said the measures contradicted statements by U.S. officials that they wanted to support independent Cuban businesses.
The Cuban government has long argued that U.S. sanctions are a principal cause of the island’s economic difficulties, while the Trump administration says Cuba’s political and economic system is responsible for the crisis and has used sanctions to increase pressure on Havana.
The latest changes mark a broader regulatory reversal of Biden-era Cuba policy, extending beyond sanctions on specific individuals and entities to the financial and travel rules governing interactions with the island.
