During a speech in Little Havana, the epicenter of a Cuban exile community
that enthusiastically supported him in last year’s election, Mr. Trump said he was keeping a campaign promise to roll back the policy of engagement begun by President Barack Obama in 2014, which he said had empowered the communist government in Cuba and enriched the country’s repressive military.
Trump Reverses Pieces of Obama-Era Engagement With Cuba -
By JULIE HIRSCHFELD DAVISJUNE 16, 2017
MIAMI — President Trump announced on Friday that he was reversing crucial pieces of what he called a “terrible
and misguided deal” with Cuba and will reinstate travel and commercial restrictions eased by the Obama administration in an attempt to obtain additional concessions from the Cuban government.
Among them was José Daniel Ferrer García, head of the Cuban Patriotic Union, the largest
opposition group in Cuba, who was among the dissidents Mr. Obama met last year in Cuba.
“If you want Cuba to change and reform, we are doing the opposite of what would
be most likely to bring about reforms inside of Cuba,” Mr. Rhodes said.
“We do not want U. S. dollars to prop up a military monopoly that exploits and abuses the citizens of Cuba,” Mr. Trump said.