US PRESIDENT Barack Obama plans to allow American telecommunications companies to apply for licences in Cuba.

He will also ease restrictions on travel and remittances to Cuba, permitting Cuban-Americans to make more frequent family visits as well as send more money to relatives, an official said.

The range of items that can be shipped to the communist island will be expanded to include fishing equipment, clothes and personal hygiene products, according to the official, who requested anonymity so as not to pre-empt the president’s announcement.

Mr Obama has no plans to scrap an almost half-century-old trade embargo against Cuba, administration officials have said. Still, the changes may portend thawing relations between the US and Cuba, as US lawmakers push Mr Obama to normalise diplomatic and trade relations.

“It’s clear that our policies toward Cuba have failed, so it’s time to look in a new direction,” Representative Sam Farr, a California Democrat, said in a letter from 46 lawmakers that he plans to deliver to Mr Obama later this week. “I’m excited by the positive signs that are emerging from the White House.”

The changes, which are being made through presidential orders to the State, Treasury and Commerce departments, come as Mr Obama is set to travel to Latin America later this week. He will go to Mexico before visiting Trinidad and Tobago for the Summit of the Americas. – (Reuters)