US President Barack Obama has lifted all curbs on travel and money transfers by Cuban-Americans to the island for the first time in three decades.

But the move left a longstanding US trade embargo largely intact, with the White House saying it was up to the Cuban government whether Mr Obama's steps, which were in line with his campaign promises, would result in a thawing of chilled relations between the two sides.

The announcement of the dramatic shift in US policy towards Cuba was made not by Mr Obama, but by his media spokesman Robert Gibbs.

"It's time to let Cuban Americans see their mothers and fathers, their sisters and brothers," he said.

"It's time to let Cuban American money make their families less dependent on the Castro regime."

Gone are the restrictions on how often Americans can travel to Cuba to visit their family members and how long they can stay on the island nation.

The Obama Administration is also removing limits on the amount of money that can be sent to family members in Cuba.

US telecommunications companies will also be allowed to provide satellite radio, TV and mobile phone services to Cuba, if authorities there cooperate, and Americans will be allowed to pay for those services for their family members.

Mr Obama has indicated he is open to talks with Cuba's leaders but there is no sign of that yet.

And like previous American presidents, Mr Obama says he will only consider lifting the 47-year-old US trade embargo on Cuba once the communist Government holds democratic elections and improves human rights.

Visiting family

Sara Stephens from the Centre for Democracy in the Americas says the looser restrictions are welcome steps, but the President should do more for several reasons.

"It keeps the current policy intact, and it's failed for 50 years," she said.

"Second, it hurts Americans who still can't travel to Cuba or trade freely with Cuba, third, it does nothing to engage the Cuban government in substantive discussions about human rights, and last, it isolates the United States.

"Russia, China, everyone else on earth is on that island, and we are not."

About 1.5 million Americans have relatives in Cuba and Tessie Aral runs a travel agency in Miami that specialises in trips to the communist country.

"Right now I have a customer outside, she just found her mother had breast cancer, so she was just going for her first one of the year," Ms Aral said.

"When I told her, 'You can go again' she was, like, ecstatic, because she can go visit her Mum that's going to be starting chemotherapy.

"It's just like any other type of passengers, that if they have to go visit their family they don't want to be told 'you can't go'."