President Donald Trump is rolling back a number of his predecessor’s policy changes toward Cuba, making good on a campaign pledge he made that likely helped secure votes from conservatives in Florida.

He drew raucous cheers from a crowd in Miami announcing the changes, and brought several Cuban dissidents onto the stage with him to emphasise the point that the Cuban government has been oppressive to its people.

The President plans on tightening travel restrictions for Americans who would head to Cuba, and on tightening restrictions for American investment in the island country in order to keep US money from flowing into the hands of the government. The aim, Mr Trump said, is to get more money into the hands of the Cuban people while pushing reforms in the Cuban government to respect human rights, and return American fugitives hiding out on the island.

We spoke to Sarah Stephens, the founding executive director of the Centre for Democracy in the Americas and Director of the Atlantic Fellows Platform for Innovation and Narrative. Ms Stephens’ works focuses on US-Cuba policy, and favours normalised relations between the two countries.

Here’s what Ms Stephens has to say about Mr Trump’s announcement on Cuba.

What does it mean for the Cuban economy and people that travel will be restricted further?

Only the U.S. imposes travel restrictions on its citizens in deterring travel to Cuba. By taking some US travel out of the equation, the administration will harm US jobs and possibly airlines, but Cuba will remain an attractive travel destination for tourists from every other country on the planet. Cuba’s allies from across the world will happily fill the void created by the US, and it sounds like Cuban Americans — the most regular visitors — will still be allowed to travel.

Is the Cuban military really benefiting from US policy there compared to the Cuban people?

Because more than half-a-million Cubans are self-employed, with many operating retail and service businesses that cater to travellers, they will be hurt by a reduction in demand travel from the US At the same time, our defence and intelligence agencies, senior military officers, retired and active, consistently tell us – and tell the administration – that Cuba is not a security threat.

This is not about the Cuban military, it is about politics, as evidenced by the president’s decision to make this announcement in Miami, and the administration’s unwillingness to make a serious strategic argument for the policy.

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

Does this sound like a significant reset of President Barack Obama’s Cuba policies?

It’s very important that they have maintained diplomatic relations, but if they have disagreements with the Cuban government, the way to resolve them is not by cutting flights, but by using the diplomatic channel.

The president is ordering these new regulations under the auspice of human rights defence, but he recently met with the major rights offender Saudi Arabia. Any thoughts on that dichotomy?

It lays bare the fact that this isn't a serious human rights policy. The Obama policy was based on the pursuit of the US national interest and improving the lives of the people of both countries. Through diplomacy Obama was able to get human rights on the table.

Polls show that most Americans favour more normalised relations with Cuba, and cited a small group of Bay of Pigs veterans in his reasoning — a group that endorsed Mr Trump in what was their first endorsement in decades last year. How do you explain that?