U.S. tightens sanctions on Cuba travel

The United States announced on Tuesday that it has banned group educational travel to Cuba, a new move signaling its worsening ties with the Caribbean island.

An alley leading to the Plaza Vieja in Havana, Cuba, June 21, 2018. Havana has the largest colonial old town in Latin America. [Photo: IC]

U.S. Treasury said in a statement that Washington is terminating "group people-to-people educational travel" to Cuba, citing the country's "destabilizing role in the Western Hemisphere" and its support for "U.S. adversaries in places like Venezuela and Nicaragua."

The United States will also no longer permit visits to Cuba by passenger and recreational vessels and private and corporate aircraft, according to the statement.

It is believed that the latest U.S. move will drain off one of the major channels for the U.S. citizens to visit Cuba.

U.S.-Cuba ties have deteriorated under the Trump administration, which has rolled back the detente initiated by the former U.S. President Barack Obama.

Washington has repeatedly alleged that Havana has thousands of intelligence and security forces in Venezuela to shore up President Nicholas Maduro's government, which Washington is openly seeking to oust from power.

Cuba denied the U.S. accusations, saying those allegations serve to justify new punitive economic measures against the island.

The United States has also activated Title III of the Helms-Burton Act recently, allowing U.S. citizens to establish lawsuits against international companies operating in Cuba on nationalized or expropriated properties after 1959. Havana has firmly rejected the activation of the act.