The Trump administration has suspended the commercial flight schedules to nine cities in Cuba, leaving only planned or future flights to the capital of Havana intact, The US Department of Transportation said Friday.
US airlines sending flights to the tropical island, including American, Delta, and Jet Blue, will have 45 days to wrap up their operations in the affected cities, the Miami Herald noted, ending on December 10. Charter flights will not be affected by the measure. About 50 airlines fly to the only remaining airport destination allowed: Jose Marti International Airport in Havana.
The Transportation Department said in a Friday statement the move occurred at the request of US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, in order to “further the administration’s policy of strengthening the economic consequences to the Cuban regime for its ongoing repression of the Cuban people and its support for Nicolas Maduro in Venezuela.”
Since January, the US has not recognized Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro as the legitimate ruler of that country, instead backing an opposition politician named Juan Guaido. About 50 countries, mostly European, have followed suit, but most of the world’s nations, including Cuba, continue to recognize Maduro as president. Three coup attempts by Guaido since January have failed to garner any kind of significant following, and fell apart within days, sometimes hours.
Pompeo has claimed the Cubans in Venezuela are not doctors, but soldiers, helping to prop up Maduro’s government amid popular attempts at his ouster – claims Havana has consistently denied.
Sourse: sputniknews.com
