GAO Reviews Possible Actions to Ease, Suspend or End Cuba Embargo
The Government Accountability Office has issued correspondence to certain members of the House Committee on Ways and Means entitled, "U.S. Embargo on Cuba: Recent Regulatory Changes and Potential Presidential or Congressional Actions."
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Embargo Restrictions on Gifts, Exports, Travel to Cuba Eased in Sept 2009
GAO notes that the Commerce Department's Bureau of Industry and Security and the Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Controls issued amended regulations in September 2009, which eased restrictions on travel, remittances, gifts, and exports to Cuba in response to the Omnibus Appropriations Act of 2009 and presidential policy directives. (See ITT's Online Archives or 09/08/09 news, 09090830, for BP summary.)
President Has Authority to Further Ease Embargo Restrictions
According to GAO, the President currently has discretion to further ease Cuba's regulatory restrictions. For example, the President can authorize travel under a general license for non-family travelers (i.e., freelance journalists, professional researchers, and full-time students) who currently must obtain specific license; further increase the amount of cash remittances that travelers may carry to Cuba; and further expand the list of items eligible for gift parcels.
Embargo Can be Suspended if Transition Gov't, Ended if Fairly Elected Gov't
The President is also authorized to suspend or end the trade embargo in the event of certain political changes in Cuba. Under the Cuban Liberty and Democratic Solidarity (LIBERTAD) Act of 1996, on determining that a transition Cuban government is in power, the President may take steps to suspend the embargo, including its implementing regulations restricting financial transactions related to travel, trade, and remittances. He may also suspend enforcement of several legislative measures related to the embargo.
LIBERTAD also requires that on determining that a democratically elected Cuban government is in power, the President must take steps to end the embargo, including the implementing regulations, and that once he has made such a determination, certain listed embargo-related legislative measures are automatically repealed.
A New Law Could End Embargo
Absent a presidential determination of a democratically elected Cuban government, the embargo could end if Congress were to pass a law to amend or repeal LIBERTAD and various other embargo-related statutes, including provisions in the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961, the Food Security Act of 1985, the Cuban Democracy Act of 1992, the Omnibus Appropriations Act of 1999, and the Trade Sanctions Reform and Export Enhancement Act of 2000 (TSRA), and the President enact it.
Such provisions include, for example, section 908(b)(1) and 910(b) of TSRA that require payment of cash in advance or third country financing for agricultural exports to Cuba and prohibit Treasury from authorizing travel to Cuba for tourist activities by persons subject to U.S. jurisdiction.
(See GAO correspondence for further information, including key legal and regulatory authorities for the embargo, GAO's scope and methodology, etc.)
GAO correspondence (GAO-09-951R, dated 09/17/09) available at http://www.gao.gov/new.items/d09951r.pdf