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US Bans Charter Flights to Cuban Cities Besides Havana

Associated Press

   HAVANA - The Trump administration is banning charter flights to Cuban
   cities besides Havana in a new tightening of U.S. restrictions on the
   island.

   In October, the administration banned commercial flights to cities
   outside the capital.

   The State Department said in a press release Friday that charter
   operators would have 60 days to wind down their flights to Santiago,
   Holguin and seven other cities across the island, and put a new
   restriction on the number of charter flights to Havana's Jose Marti
   International Airport.

   "Today's action will further restrict the Cuban regime's ability to
   obtain revenue, which it uses to finance its ongoing repression of the
   Cuban people and its unconscionable support for dictator Nicolas Maduro
   in Venezuela," Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said in the statement.

   The new restriction leaves both leisure travelers and Cuban-Americans
   without an easy way to travel to destinations outside the Cuban
   capital. Driving from Havana to eastern Cuba can take more than 12
   hours on poorly maintained and often dangerous roads.