Federal government scraps decades-old ban on Cuban cigars

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FORT MYERS, Fla. – United States citizens will be able to purchase and travel with Cuban cigars and rum as early as Oct. 17, the federal government announced Friday.

The federal departments of treasury and commerce are making major changes to the Cuban Assets Control Regulations, a law that regulates economic relations between the United States and Cuba. The amendments are intended to “help create more economic opportunity for Cubans and Americans,” according to an official statement, and move forward on President Barack Obama’s landmark plans, which began in December 2014 with the re-establishment of diplomatic relations with the communist country.

The changes will usher in relaxed trade, commerce and travel laws and also allow for medical research collaboration between the U.S. and Cuba. The travel law modifications will allow Americans to include cigars and rum made in Cuba in their luggage on flights back to the United States.

The U.S. cut off relations with Cuba in 1961. Obama’s 2014 announcement of the warming of ties with the country came with the return of Cuban prisoner and U.S. citizen Alan Gross.

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