Tuesday, June 4, as Donald Trump was wrapping up his only moderately disastrous state visit to the United Kingdom, the U.S. Treasury Department issued a press release announcing that the Trump administration was reversing the Obama administration’s 2014 loosening of restrictions on Americans’ travel to Cuba.

Of course, to maximize confusion, the policy was set to go into effect THE NEXT DAY — Wednesday, June 6.

The nugget of the press release was this quote attributed to Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin:

“Cuba continues to play a destabilizing role in the Western Hemisphere, providing a communist foothold in the region and propping up U.S. adversaries in places like Venezuela and Nicaragua by fomenting instability, undermining the rule of law, and suppressing democratic processes,” said Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin. “This Administration has made a strategic decision to reverse the loosening of sanctions and other restrictions on the Cuban regime. These actions will help to keep U.S. dollars out of the hands of Cuban military, intelligence, and security services.”

Although it wasn’t spelled out in the press release, supporting documents made it abundantly clear that Trump was returning to those halcyon days of yore when only Americans with direct family ties in Cuba could legally travel there.

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