Travel Restrictions
Since Fidel Castro's rise to power in 1960, the U.S. government has imposed stringent travel restrictions on Cuba due to concerns about communism.
Initially, only journalists, academics, government officials, individuals with immediate family members on the island, and those licensed by the Treasury Department were permitted to travel to Cuba. These rules were amended in 2011 to allow all Americans to visit Cuba if they participated in a "people-to-people" cultural exchange tour.
