Cuba says new US visa restrictions designed to create obstacles to travel
Havana accused Washington on Saturday of creating obstacles to US travel by Cubans by reducing the duration of its tourist visas from five years to three months.
The United States, which announced the change on Friday, said it was matching the island’s own visa rules for US visitors.
The so-called B-2 tourist visa allowed Cubans multiple entries to the United States for periods up to five years. As of Monday, they will be eligible only for three-month, single-entry tourist visas.
The Cuban foreign ministry issued a statement objecting to the change, saying “it increases the obstacles for family and other visits.”
“If the United States really wants to apply reciprocity, it should immediately open its consulate in Havana, and resume the process of issuing visas, which it arbitrarily and unjustifiably interrupted more than a year ago, and eliminate the prohibition on US citizens traveling freely to Cuba,” it said.
US relations with Cuba, which were restored under former president Barack Obama, have soured under Donald Trump.
The United States evacuated diplomatic staff and their families in 2017 after at least two dozen people suffered brain injuries that resembled concussion, but with no exterior signs of trauma.
The US accused Cuba of carrying out “health attacks” using some sort of acoustic or microwave device, a charge Havana angrily rejected.
Cuba insisted the US move was “politically motivated.”