Cuba Libre? Not

Bush administration figures are tightening travel restrictions to Cuba, reports the Associated Press, which notes that the restrictions are "unrelated to Cuba's recent crackdown on dissidents."

When President Clinton announced the expanded people-to-people exchanges in January 1999, he said he hoped increased contacts between ordinary Americans and Cubans would "demonstrate the United States' compassion for the Cuban people." Treasury Department officials in the Bush administration say the policy was abused by groups and individuals who organized tourism packages masquerading as study tours. "Many of the trips were being used largely for tourism, undermining the sanctions against Cuba," said Taylor Griffin, a Treasury spokesman in Washington.

And you can't undermine those sanctions when your brother is the governor of Florida, can you?

Meanwhile, MSNBC reports that Castro's economy is–once again–in the tank.