WASHINGTON, April 3 (UPI) -- U.S. President Barack Obama plans to remove travel restrictions on Cuban-Americans wishing to visit relatives in Cuba, an administration official said.
The Wall Street Journal reported Friday evening that the change being contemplated by Obama would permit people to visit their families as often as they wish and would put no restriction on the amount of funds they could send to relatives in Cuba.
During his campaign for president Obama promised he would effect such changes, which are within a president's power, the newspaper said. Congress took separate action this year to relax restrictions on travel to the island nation.
About 1.5 million Americans have relatives in Cuba. Others may travel to Cuba only under certain cultural, educational or other auspices.
Obama does not intend to call for ending the nearly five-decade-old trade embargo against Cuba -- a move that requires congressional action -- and is not considering specific new diplomatic overtures, the administration official told the Journal.
Critics of relaxing restrictions on contact with Cuba argue that such action does not promote democracy, and only tends to strengthen the hand of Raoul Castro, who has run the Cuban government since his brother, Fidel Castro, turned over control after experience serious health problems several years ago.
Some foreign policy analysts have speculated Obama could announce the change this month, around the time of the upcoming Summit of the Americas in Trinidad and Tobago.
