The final American cruise ship has set sail from Cuba after Donald Trump reimposed sanctions lifted by his predecessor, Barack Obama.

Mr Trump aims to cut off the cash flow to the communist country by limiting the number of granted travel visas and ending cruise ship stopovers, saying it helps prop up Venezuelan president Nicolas Maduro.

The Department of the Treasury banned educational group travel, cruise ship stopovers, and private yacht visits by American citizens, as those are the most common ways that Americans visit the island.

These sanctions may be a financially heavy hit on Cuba, which attracted over a quarter-million US visitors in the first four months of 2019, nearly double the figure from the previous year.

Both Cubans and Americans alike were shocked and upset by the policy change. “All this is so sad, really,” said Mario Diaz, a 19-year-old Cuban, “for Trump to come in and turn everything back from one day to the next.”

Some Americans were unaware that the policy was incoming. “Right or wrong, we know nothing about it as American citizens. It was a total surprise to us,” passenger Linda Mensure, from Texas, told AFP.

Pictures of everyday life in Cuba Show all 20 1 /20 Pictures of everyday life in Cuba Pictures of everyday life in Cuba A man rides his modified bicycle past a vintage American car in Havana Getty Images Pictures of everyday life in Cuba A taxi sits parked by Ancon Beach waiting for returning bathers in Trinidad Getty Images Pictures of everyday life in Cuba Afrocuban carnival group "Los componedores de batea" performing in the streets of La Habana Vieja Rex Pictures of everyday life in Cuba Pastel colours for an ice-cream place and a vintage American car in Cienfuegos after sunset Rex Pictures of everyday life in Cuba A man on the phone in a bookshop in Old Havana (Habana Vieja) selling books and displaying propaganda poster of the Cuban Revolution Rex Pictures of everyday life in Cuba Street Musicians in Santiago De Cuba Rex Pictures of everyday life in Cuba A man works to repair his classic American car after it broke down along the Prado, a wide avenue that runs from Parque Central to the Malecon seafront highway, in Havana Getty Images Pictures of everyday life in Cuba Members of the 'Ladies in White,' a group founded by the partners and relatives of jailed dissidents that regularly protests against the Cuban government, demonstrate on the streets of Havana Getty Images Pictures of everyday life in Cuba Street vegetables vendor in Havana Getty Images Pictures of everyday life in Cuba The sun setting through the palm trees and creates long shadows on the pool deck at this resort in Cuba Varadero Rex Pictures of everyday life in Cuba General view of a street in Havana Getty Images Pictures of everyday life in Cuba A girls plays on a street in Havana Getty Images Pictures of everyday life in Cuba Girls walk past graffiti art along the Paseo de Marti, the wide boulevard that runs through the heart of the historic Old Havana neighborhood in Havana Getty Images Pictures of everyday life in Cuba A woman smokes her Havana cigar Getty Images Pictures of everyday life in Cuba A man harvests tobacco leaves for drying at a tobacco drying house on a co-op plantation in Pinar del Rio Getty Images Pictures of everyday life in Cuba Men play chess on a street in Havana Getty Images Pictures of everyday life in Cuba Locals take part in a gay parade in Havana Getty Images Pictures of everyday life in Cuba Scene of the Memories Paraiso Azul resort in Santa Maria Key Getty Images Pictures of everyday life in Cuba Beach on the Bay of Pigs, Zapata Peninsula Pictures of everyday life in Cuba Divers swimming above coral reef in Caribbean Sea Rex

The Cruise Lines International Association said the new imposition of sanctions will affect nearly 800,000 American reservations that were already made or being finalised.

American tourism in Cuba had expanded due to an Obama-era initiative that relaxed a long-standing trade embargo against the communist regime in 2014.

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Some restrictions were upheld, keeping the interactions to cultural exchanges, artistic exchanges, and business dealings.