– The Trump administration formalized and hardened U.S. policy toward Cuba thro…

🇺🇸🇨🇺 – The Trump administration formalized and hardened U.S. policy toward Cuba through a comprehensive national security memorandum. This directive reasserts the embargo and lays down a clear institutional roadmap to prevent future normalization with the Cuban regime until strict democratic conditions are met.

At its core, the document prohibits U.S. financial transactions with Cuban military and intelligence-linked entities (notably GAESA). This effectively cuts off state-controlled sectors from international capital flows, reinforcing isolation.

The policy mandates tight control over U.S. travel to Cuba. Tourism remains banned. All visits must involve direct civil society engagement, and all travelers must keep detailed logs for potential audits.

The memorandum pushes for a private-sector-oriented future. Aid and remittances should be funneled only through independent Cuban businesses, not state-linked institutions. This reflects a clear desire to engineer a post-Castro economic order from the outside.

It calls for expanding free internet access and media tools for Cuban citizens, hinting at long-term information warfare goals—empowering bottom-up dissent while bypassing regime control.

It orders the State and Treasury Departments to publish a blacklist of prohibited Cuban entities and enforce transaction bans. U.S. agencies are tasked with regular oversight and reporting.

The memo also restates U.S. opposition to any international effort—especially at the UN—to lift the embargo, reinforcing diplomatic consistency across administrations.

Democracy-promotion programs (USAID, etc.) are to be reviewed and aligned with stricter anti-regime criteria. This signals a shift from soft diplomacy to targeted political influence operations.

The document instructs annual inter-agency reviews of Cuba policy implementation, making it structurally difficult for future presidents to reverse course quickly.

In short, this directive outlines a long-game strategy: block regime survival via economic pressure, promote internal fracture through civil society and media, and prepare for regime change led by a U.S.-aligned Cuban diaspora.