US blocks last of charter flights to Cuba

The US has announced it is suspending all private charter flights to Cuba, intensifying its drive to starve the regime of revenue.

The first commercial flight to Cuba since 1961 lands in Santa Clara on August 31, 2016. Picture: AFP

The US has announced it is suspending all private charter flights to Cuba, intensifying its drive to starve the Havana regime of revenue over its human rights record and support for Venezuela’s leftist president.

The move completes travel sanctions under which all such charter flights had been banned except to Havana. Now, Cuba’s capital is off-limits as well.

Private charter travel to Havana was popular among Miami-area celebrities and business executives.

The move comes as President Donald Trump faces a tough re-election battle in which Florida — home to a large, conservative Cuban-American community that loathes the Havana government — is a must-win state.

Announcing the measure, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo slammed the communist regime of President Raul Castro for jailing reporters and pro-democracy activists, overseeing “horrific” physical abuse and propping up President Nicolas Maduro in Venezuela, among other offences.

The announcement marks the latest hardening of US policy toward Cuba under Mr Trump, who reversed a thaw in relations with Havana that began under his predecessor Barack Obama.

“The suspension of private charter flights will deny economic resources to the Castro regime and inhibit its capacity to carry out abuses,” Mr Pompeo said

“This administration will continue to target and cut the revenue the Cuban government earns from landing fees, stays in regime-owned hotels, and other travel-related income.”

Cuba’s top diplomat on relations with the US, Carlos Fernandez de Cossio, rejected the measure and said it will have “little practical impact”.

Cuba’s Foreign Ministry also denounced the move, saying it “seeks to satisfy the electoral political machinery of south Florida”.

Last October, the US banned charter flights to Cuba except to Havana as it hammered away at the island’s economy.

This May, it set a limit of 3600 flights per year to the Cuban capital. Still, the Trump administration has stopped short of ending regular commercial flights to Cuba, although now there are none because of the pandemic.

Cuba has been under a US embargo since 1962.

Mr Pompeo said an exception remains for authorised public charter flights to and from Havana and other authorised private charter flights for emergency medical purposes, search and rescue, “and other travel deemed in the interest of the US”.

“Our message to the Castro regime has been clear: The US will continue to stand up for the Cuban people and against the regime’s abuses and its interference in Venezuela to prop up Maduro’s illegitimate hold on power,” Mr Pompeo said.

The top US diplomat for Latin America, Michael Kozak, tweeted that Cuba uses money from tourism and travel “to finance its abuses and interference in Venezuela”. “We cannot allow dictators to benefit from trips from the US,” Mr Kozak wrote.

AFP