U.S. Rep. Carlos Gimenez urges Trump administration to halt Cuba travel and remittances

U.S. Rep. Carlos Gimenez, R-Miami, asked the Trump administration on Thursday to end all remittances and travel to and from Cuba, saying that “America can't provide any more oxygen to that regime."

“I urge you, Mr. Secretary, to take swift and decisive action in halting all travel to and from Communist Cuba and eliminating the flow of remittances to the island,” wrote the Cuban-American congressman in a letter to Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent.

“The murderous dictatorship in Cuba is on life-support, the regime cannot even keep the lights on, and America must stand with the Cuban people to topple this pathetic gang, once and for all," Gimenez wrote.

“The brutal regime in Cuba is facing more internal pressure than ever before and America must stand with the brave Cuban people by eliminating the dictatorship’s access to any hard currency and resources used to further repress them. The time is now,” he said in a statement accompanying his letter to Bessent.

In an interview with Fox News, which the congressman first shared his letter, Gimenez criticized Cubans in Miami-Dade for traveling back and forth to visit the island.

"All you’ve got to do is go to [Miami International Airport] and you'll see all kinds of flights from the United States to Cuba and back — that needs to stop,” he told Fox News.

“A lot of times when flights are going from Miami to Cuba, a lot of those people are taking goods and products, et cetera," he added. "The regime can't even provide electricity to their own people. It needs to fail on its own weight; America can't provide any more oxygen to that regime."

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“I’ve never sent one penny to Cuba for anything during my time in the United States; over 60 years,” he said. “There are different circumstances for different people, but now it's time to say enough."

The Cuban government does not disclose remittance data, but the flow of dollars and other foreign currency into the country annually ranges between $1.5 billion to $4 billion, according to estimates.

Earlier this year, Secretary of State Marco Rubio restarted the “Cuba Restricted List,” which prohibits certain transactions with companies under the control of the Cuban military. They added Orbit, the state-run Cuban firm that handles remittances, to the list.

Following the change in policy, Western Union, which facilitated remittances to Cuba from thousands of location in the the U.S., suspended the service in February.

The World Bank, which tracks remittances around the globe, reports that Cuba is among the most expensive countries to send money in Latin America and the Caribbean. Sending $200 costs 19%, according to the World Bank’s latest report.