Cracks in US–Cuba Policy as the Island Faces Decreasing Tourism and a Cancelled Flight Path from the US
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During a recent Turning Point USA conference, conservative commentator Tucker Carlson broke ranks with the Republican Party’s traditional stance on Cuba, criticizing the U.S. embargo on Cuba. “We've had an embargo for much of that time and…it hasn't worked. It hasn't liberated Cuba…the same regime is in charge and is still working to undermine the interest of the United States. So what we're doing isn't working. Are sanctions really the answer?”
According to CubaHerald, Carlson’s remarks have prompted internal discussion within the Trump administration about launching a full evaluation of the embargo with the possibility of easing some sanctions. If true, this would mark a notable shift for an administration that has so far embraced a hardline approach to Cuba including increased travel restrictions, the suspension of U.S. consular services, and the reinstatement of Cuba as a State Sponsor of Terrorism.
Reportedly, the idea is already facing strong pushback from Secretary of State Marco Rubio, a longtime advocate for aggressive U.S. policy toward Havana. Secretary Rubio and fellow Cuban American lawmakers from South Florida, have all recently introduced or endorsed measures to tighten restrictions on travel, remittances, and diplomatic engagement:
Representative María Elvira Salazar (FL-27) introduced a bill in January aiming to "prevent any U.S. administration from normalizing relations with the Cuban dictatorship until liberty and democracy are restored to the Cuban people.”
In April, Representative Carlos Gimenez (FL-28) requested that the Trump Administration end all remittances and travel to and from Cuba with limited exemptions.
Before Trump took office in January, Representative Mario Díaz-Balart (FL-26) criticized the Biden–Harris administration for taking Cuba off the State Sponsors of Terrorism List.
As debate resurfaces on the embargo, the conditions of Florida’s “Alligator Alcatraz” facility and the continued holding of migrants has pushed a detainee to protest. Pedro Lorenzo Concepción, a 44-year old Cuban migrant detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), engages in a hunger strike as he is held in the controversial facility.
Other inmates have shed light on the alarming conditions in the facility, telling El País that they are only permitted to bathe every three or four days for less than four minutes per person. They added that if people take too long to eat, their food is taken and thrown away. Lorenzo Concepción has been on hunger strike for several days, even being taken to the hospital in the process due to his condition. As the days have taken a toll on his body, he continues to refuse to eat, saying the intention of the strike is to be “fighting for my family and all Cubans.”
Meanwhile, conditions in Cuba remain precarious. Tourism numbers have dropped by 25 percent, United Airlines is suspending its Houston–Havana route, and health officials are responding to a chikungunya outbreak in Matanzas. Cuba’s legislature passed a constitutional reform eliminating the presidential age limit, and trans activists saw a historic victory with a new law easing gender marker changes.
See Cuban migration information and data through June 2025.
This week in Cuba news…
United Airlines Suspends Houston–Havana Travel Route
United Airlines recently notified the U.S. Department of Transportation (USDOT) of its intent to suspend its sole nonstop scheduled service between Houston’s George Bush Intercontinental Airport and Havana’s José Martí International Airport, starting September 2. Up until this point, the airline had been the only carrier based outside of Florida offering direct flights to Cuba. Official Airline Guide data shows that United will continue operating a charter flight between Jacksonville and Guantánamo Bay once a week.
The airline cited sustained off-peak demand volatility on the Houston–Havana route as its primary reason for the move to suspend it. In the filing to USDOT, United stated that passenger traffic had remained “highly seasonal,” as the best time to travel to Cuba is during the winter months.
The decrease in flight pathways to Cuba began before the second Trump administration. This most recent suspension mirrors United and other airlines’ past moves to cut flights to Cuba during the Biden–Harris administration. In 2023, JetBlue had cited “the regulatory landscape and restrictions on our customers’ ability to enter Cuba” as one of the causes for a lack of demand for travel to Cuba.
Tourism in Cuba Drops 25 Percent in 2025
Compared to the same period in 2024, the number of tourists arriving in Cuba dropped by 25 percent. According to Cuba’s National Office of Statistics and Information (ONEI), the island recorded 981,856 visitors between January and June, which is 327,799 fewer than the same period in 2024. Tourism from every nationality is on the decline with the exception of Colombia which recorded a 2.4 percent increase, with 16,622 visitors.
The main nationality of tourists continues to be Canadians, comprising 428,125 of the 981,856 visitors or roughly 43 percent. However, Canadian tourism is also on the decline as the number of Canadian tourists in Cuba dropped by 30 percent in Q1 compared to the same time last year.
Restrictions on people’s ability to travel to Cuba have deepened under the Trump administration, which announced additional non-academic travel requirements on Cuba as well as increased travel restrictions for Cubans on certain visas as part of its June 9 travel ban.
Cuba Eliminates Age Limit to be President
Cuba’s legislature unanimously approved a constitutional reform on July 18, rolling back the 2019 requirement that the President be under sixty years old. After former President Fidel Castro fell ill and his younger brother, Raúl Castro, assumed the presidency at age 75, Raúl supported a younger successor, leading to the adoption of the constitutional 2019 amendment.
The President of Cuba’s legislative body, Esteban Lazo, explained that the change stems from not wanting to “restrict people in full exercise of their physical and mental faculties” and a result of the changing circumstances in Cuba, which is characterized by a rapidly aging population.
Cuba is set to hold a presidential election in 2028, but current President Miguel Díaz-Canel will not be eligible to run again due to term limits. However, he will retain significant power by continuing in his role as First Secretary of the Communist Party, the most influential position in the country, which he has held since 2021. That role outranks the presidency and is not subject to term limits. President Díaz-Canel is widely expected to be reelected to that post in 2026, keeping him in charge until at least 2031. As a result, whoever becomes president in 2028 will remain under Díaz-Canel’s supervision and control, making the upcoming election more symbolic than meaningful.
Cuba Passes Law Allowing Legal Change of Gender Markers without Barriers
On July 18, Cuba’s National Assembly of People’s Power approved a landmark law that permits trans individuals to change their gender markers on identification documents without providing a court order or proof of gender-affirming genital (bottom) surgery. This law eliminates bureaucratic barriers to changing gender markers and allows trans people to change them upon request.
Cuba originally assured complete coverage for people seeking gender affirming surgery in 2008, when Cuba’s Minister of Public Health signed Resolution 126. Despite this, Cuba has not provided comprehensive access to healthcare for the trans community.
The law also makes significant changes to Cuba’s national civil registry—the state-record keeping system for citizenship papers and marriage licenses—allowing for the digitization of paper records and recognition of common-law partnerships, or various forms of domestic partnerships.
Cuba's Private Sector Accounting for More Retail Sales than the State
New data from Cuba’s government indicates that the private sector in Cuba overtook the public sector in retail sales last year. Figures from Cuba’s National Office of Statistics and Information show that the “non-state sector” constituted 55 percent of retail sales of goods and services, an increase from 44 percent in 2023. An increasing number of Cubans are employed by the private sector, with approximately 1.6 million people in a labor force of 4 million working in the private sector.
Economy Minister Joaquin Alonso notified the National Assembly earlier this month that while Cuba’s total imports have declined, imports by private enterprise exceeded $1 billion, a 34 percent increase when compared to the same period last year.
Cuba had gradually expanded the role of private enterprise. In 1993, self-employment was legalized in the country. In 2021, Cuba expanded the private sector by allowing for the establishment of micro, small, and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs). However, the Cuban government has since implemented stricter regulations for the private sector, negatively affecting MSMEs and cooperatives.
Chikungunya Outbreak in Cuba
Health authorities in Cuba have confirmed an outbreak of chikungunya in the España Republicana neighborhood of Perico, a locality in the Matanzas municipality in Cuba. In response, officials have ramped up vector control efforts, including widespread fumigation, treating water sources with larvicides such as abate, and eliminating mosquito breeding sites. The outbreak comes alongside reports of five severe dengue cases on the island.
Chikungunya is a viral disease transmitted primarily by mosquitoes, the same vectors responsible for spreading dengue and Zika. Symptoms typically appear within a week of infection but the disease is rarely fatal.
As of mid-July, the Florida Department of Health reported hundreds of travel-related cases of chikungunya and dengue, as well as around 23 malaria cases, many of which were linked to recent travel to Cuba.
Recommended Reading, Viewing, Events:
Read | Associated Press: Book Review: ’The Tilting House’ is a novel about coming of age in Communist Cuba
Read | El País: My return to a Cuba I no longer recognize
Read | WHAS11 : Cuban artist's journey: Finding freedom in Louisville's art scene amid current immigration policy tensions
Read | The Guardian: She fled Cuba for asylum – then was snatched from a US immigration courtroom
Read | Diario Las Américas: Cuba: La Migración interna se desborda, todos aspiran llegar a La Habana (Spanish)
Read | Courthouse News Service: American Airlines must face suit over confiscated Cuban airport
