The Obama administration on Friday announced the most wide-ranging liberalization of travel and money-sending regulations to Cuba in over a decade, making it easier for American students and religious and cultural groups to visit the Communist-ruled island.
It will still not be possible for ordinary American tourists to vacation legally in Cuba, which has been under a U.S. economic embargo for 48 years. But members of educational, cultural and religious groups will be able to get licenses for travel more readily.
In addition, the new regulations will permit Americans to provide money to Cuban churches and small businesses. Previously, such remittances could be sent only by Cuban Americans to their relatives.
Supporters praised the announcement as a major step forward in promoting greater contact between American and Cuban civil society. The regulations would be similar to those put in place by the administration of President Bill Clinton and rolled back under President George W. Bush.
The measures "open the way for the good will of citizens of both countries to forge deeper ties that are in our national interest today and in the future," Sen. John F. Kerry (D-Mass.), chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said in a statement.