Obama Intends to Lift Several Restrictions Against Cuba on His Own

Obama Intends to Lift Several Restrictions Against Cuba on His Own
HAVANA, CUBA - MAY 2: It is informed that the number of USA citizens increase despite embargo laid on since 1960 in Havana, Cuba on 2 May, 2014. According to records, the number of American tourists exceeds 170 thousands on the first quarter of 2014. Cuba attracts attention with it's coffee, music, cheroot, rum, old American cars and the regions rank as World Culture Heritage List. Photos of reform's symbolic people; Julio Antonio Mella, Camilo Cienfuegos, Che Guevara rank as on many points of Cuba streets. (Photo by Bilgin Sasmaz/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images)
HAVANA, CUBA - MAY 2: It is informed that the number of USA citizens increase despite embargo laid on since 1960 in Havana, Cuba on 2 May, 2014. According to records, the number of American tourists exceeds 170 thousands on the first quarter of 2014. Cuba attracts attention with it's coffee, music, cheroot, rum, old American cars and the regions rank as World Culture Heritage List. Photos of reform's symbolic people; Julio Antonio Mella, Camilo Cienfuegos, Che Guevara rank as on many points of Cuba streets. (Photo by Bilgin Sasmaz/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images)

WASHINGTON — President Obama will move as soon as next month to defang the 54-year-old American trade embargo against Cuba, administration officials said Thursday, using broad executive power to defy critics in Congress and lift restrictions on travel, commerce and financial activities.

The moves are only the beginning of what White House officials and foreign policy experts describe as a sweeping set of changes that Mr. Obama can make on his own to re-establish commercial and diplomatic ties with Cuba even in the face of angry congressional opposition.

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